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,^15* 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 


By  NEWELL  DWIGHT  HILLIS 

A  man's  value  to  society 

STUDIES    IN    SELF   CULTURE 
AND  CHARACTER 

Seventh  Edition 
i6mo,  Vellum,  gilt  top,  $1.25 

FORETOKENS  OF  IMMORTALITY 

STUDIES   "  FOR  THE    HOUR   WHEN  THE 

IMMORTAL  HOPE  BURNS  LOW 

IN  THE    heart" 

izmo,  Art  binding,  gilt  top,  boxed,  75  cents 
Long  i8mo.  cloth  decorated,  50  cents 

now  THE  INNER  LIGHT  FAILED 

A    STUDY   OF  THE   ATROI'HY   OF 
THE  SPIRITUAL  SENSE 

Vest  pocket  size,  net  25  cents 


FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 
Publishers 


The  Investment 
of  Influence 


A  Study  of 
Social  Sympathy  and  Service 


Newell   Dwight  Hillis 

Author  of  "A   Man's  Value  to  Society," 
"  Foretokens  of  Immortality,"  Etc. 


t  U       I     A  ''  • 


*    /  '  9 


New  York       Chicago       Toronto 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 


M  DCCC  XCVIII 


Copyright   1897 
By  Fleming  H.  Revell  Company. 


It     ((-tctc 


3^ 


DEDICATION 


Many  years  have  now  pafsed  since  we  first  met. 
During  all  this  time  you  have  been  an  unfailing 
guide  and  helper.  Tour  friendship  has  doubled 
lifers  joys  and  halved  its  sorrows.  You  have 
strengthened  me  where  I  was  weak  and  weakened 
me  where  I  was  too  strong.  You  have  borne  my 
burdens  and  lent  me  strength  to  bear  my  own. 

Because  I  have  learned  from  you  in  example, 
what  I  here   teach   in  precept,  I  dedicate  this   book 

TO   YOU 

—  whether  toiling  in  field  or  forum, 
in  home  or  market  place, 

TO   YOU— MY  FRIEND 


Foreword. 

The  glory  of  our  fathers  was  their  em-' 
phasit;  of  the  principle  of  self-care  and  self-cul- 
ture. Finding  that  he  who  first  made  the  most 
of  himself  was  best  fitted  to  make  something 
of  others,  the  teachers  of  yesterday  unceasingly 
plied  men  with  motives  of  personal  responsi- 
bility. Influenced  by  the  former  generation, 
our  age  has  organized  the  principle  of  in- 
dividualism into  its  home,  its  school,  its 
market-place  and  forum.  By  reason  of  the 
increase  in  gold,  books,  travel  and  personal 
luxuries,  some  now  feel  that  selfness  is  begin- 
ning to  degenerate  into  selfishness.  The 
time,  therefore,  seems  to  have  fully  come  when 
the  principle  of  self-care  should  receive  its 
complement  through  the  principle  of  care  for 
others.  These  chapters  assert  the  debt  of 
wealth  to  poverty,  the  debt  of  wisdom  to 
ignorance,  the  debt  of  strength  to  weakness. 
If  "A  Man's  Value  to  Society"  affirms  the 
duty  of  self-culture  and  character,  these  studies 
emphasize  the  law  of  social  sympathy  and 
social  service. 

Newell  Dwight  Hillis. 


'1 


CONTENTS. 


Chap.  Page. 

I  Influence,   and  the  Atmosphere   Man 

Carries 1 1 

II  Life's   Great  Hearts,  and  the  Helpful- 

ness of  the  Higher  Manhood       .      .        33 

III  The   Investment  of  Talent  and  Its 

Return 51 

IV  Vicarious   Lives  as  Instruments  of 

Social  Progress 69 

V  Genius,  and  the  Debt  of  Strength    .      .        91 

VI  The  Time  Element  in  Individual  Char- 

acter and  Social  Growth         .      .  .  1 1 1 

VII  The  Supremacy  of  Heart  Over  Brain  133 

VIII  Renown  Through  Self-Renunciation  .  157 

IX  The  Gentleness  of  True  Gianthood  .  175 

X  The  Thunder  of  Silent  Fidelity:  a  Study 

of  the  Influence  of  Little  Things       .      197 

XI  Influence,  and  the  Strategic  Element  in 

Opportunity 219 

XII  Influence,  and  the  Principle  of  Reaction 

in  Life  and  Character       .      .      .      .      239 

XIII  The  Love  that  Perfects  Life        .      .      .      259 

XIV  Hope's  Harvest,  and  the  Far-ofF  Interest 

of  Tears 279 


Influence,  and  the  Atmosphere  Man 
Carries. 


"  I  do  not  believe  the  world  is  dying  for  new  ideas.  A 
teacher  has  a  high  place  amongst  us,  but  someone  is  wanted  here 
and  abroad  far  more  than  a  teacher.  It  is  power  we  need;  power 
that  shall  help  us  to  solve  our  practical  problems,  power  that  shall 
help  us  to  realize  a  high,  individual,  spiritual  life ;  power  that 
shall  make  us  daring  enough  to  act  out  all  we  have  seen  in  vision, 
all  we  have  learnt  in  principle   from  Jesus  Christ." — Charles  A. 

Berry. 

"And  Saul  sent  messengers  to  take  David  :  and  when  they 
saw  the  company  of  prophets  prophesying,  and  Samuel  standing  as 
appointed  over  them,  the  Spirit  of  God  was  upon  the  messengers  of 
Saul,  and  they  also  prophesied.  And  when  it  was  told  Saul,  he 
sent  other  messengers  and  they  prophesied  likewise.  And  Saul 
sent  messengers  again  the  third  time,  and  they  prophesied  also. 
Then  went  Saul  to  Ramah,  and  he  said.  Where  are  Samuel  and 
David  .>  And  one  said.  Behold  they  be  at  Naioth.  And  Saul  went 
thither,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  came  on  him  also  and  he  prophe- 
sied.    Wherefore  man  said:      Is  Saul  also  among  the  prophets  .'" 

— /.  Samuel,  xix,  20-2I. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Influence,  and  the  Atmosphere  Man 
Carries. 

yjjature's  forces  cai-ry  their  atmosphere. 
The  sun  gushes  forth  light  unquenchable; 
coals  throw  off  heat;  violets  are  larger  in 
influence  than  bulk;  pomegranates  and  spices 
crowd  the  house  with  sweet  odors.  Man  also 
has  his  atmosphere.  He  is  a  force-bearer  and  a 
force-producer.  He  journeys  forward,  exhaling 
influences.  Scientists  speak  of  the  magnetic 
circle^.  Artists  express  the  same  idea  by 
the  halo  of  light  emanating  from  the  divine 
head.  Business  men  understand  this  princi- 
ple; those  skilled  in  promoting  great  enter- 
prises bring  the  men  to  be  impressed  into  a 
■  room  and  create  an  atmosphei*e  ai-ound  them. 
In  measuring  Kossuth's  influence  over  the  mul- 
titudes that  thronged  and  pressed  upon  him 
the  historian  said:  "We  must  first  reckon  with 
the  orator's  physical  bulk  and  then  carry  the 
measuring-line  about  his  atmosphere."J     /■ 

Thinking  of  the  evil  emanating  from  a 
bad  man,  Bunyan  made  Apollyon's  nostrils 
emit  flames.  JEdward  Everett  insists  that  Daniel 
Webster's  eyes  during  his  greatest  speech  lit- 

13 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

ei^ally  emitted  sparks.  Had  we  tests  fine 
enough  we  would  doubtless  find  each  man's 
personality  the  center  of  outreaching  influ- 
ences. He  himself  may  be  utterly  unconscious 
of  this  exhalation  of  moral  forces",!  as  he  is  of 
the  contagion  of  disease  from  his  body.  But 
if  light  is  in  him  he  shines;  if  darkness  rules  he 
shades;  if  his  heart  glows  with  love  he  warms; 
if  frozen  with  selfishness  he  chills;  if  corrupt  he 
poisons ;  if  pure-hearted  he  cleanses,  '^e  watch 
with  wonder  the  apparent  flight  of  the  sun 
through  space,  glowing  upon  dead  planets, 
shortening  winter  and  bringing  summer,  with 
birds,  leaves  and  fruits.  But  that  is  not  half  so 
wonderful  as  the  passage  of  a  human  heart, 
glowing  and  sparkling  with  ten  thousand 
effects,  as  it  moves  through  life.  The  soul,  like 
the  sun,  has  its  atmosphere,  and  is  over  against 
its  fellows,  for  light,  warmth  and  transfor- 
mationA 

All  great  writers  have  had  their  incident 
of  the  atmosphere  their  hero  carried.  Cen- 
turies ago  King  Saul  sent  his  officers  to 
arrest  a  seer  who  had  publicly  indicted  the 
tyrant  for  outbreaking  sins.  When  the  sol- 
dier entered  the  prophet's  presence  he  was 
so  profoundly  affected  by  the  majesty  of  his 
character  that  he  forgot  the  commission  and 
his  lord's  command,   asking  rather  to  become 

H 


The  Atmosphere  Man  Carries. 

the  good  man's  protector.  Likewise  with  the 
second  group  of  soldiers— coming  to  arrest,  they 
remained  to  befriend.  Then  the  King's  anger 
was  exceedingly  hot  against  him  who  had  be- 
come a  conscience  for  the  throne.  Rushing 
forth  from  his  palace,  like  an  angry  lion  from 
his  lair,  the  King  sought  the  place  where  this 
man  of  God  was  teaching  the  people.  But,  lol 
when  the  King  entered  the  brave  man's  pres- 
ence his  courage,  fidelity  and  integrity  over- 
came Saul  and  conquered  him  unto  confession 
of  his  wickedness.  Just  here  we  may  remem- 
ber that  stout-hearted  Pilate,  with  a  legion  of 
mailed  soldiers  to  protect  him,  trembled  and 
quaked  before  his  silent  prisoner.  And  King 
Agrippa  on  his  throne  was  afraid,  when  Paul, 
lifting  his  chains,  fronted  him  with  words  of 
righteousness  and  judgment.  [Carlyle  says  that 
in  1848,  during  the  riot  in  Paris,  the  mob 
swept  down  a  street  blazing  with  cannon,  killed 
the  soldiers,  spiked  the  guns,  only  to  be  stopped 
a  few  blocks  beyond  by  an  old,  white-haired  man 
who  uncovered  and  signaled  for  silence.  Then 
the  leader  of  the  mob  said :  '  'Citizens,  it  is  De  la 
Eure.  Sixty  years  of  pure  life  is  about  to  ad- 
dress you !"  A  true  man's  presence  trans- 
formed a  mob  that  cannon  could  not  conquer.^ 
Montaigne's  illustration  of  atmosphere  was 
Julius   Caesar.     When  the  great  Roman    was 

15 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

still  a  youth,  he  was  captured  by  pirates  and 
chained  to  the  oars  as  a  galley-slave;  but  Caesar 
told  stories,   sang  songs,  declaimed  with  end- 
less good  humor.      Chains  bound  Caesar  to  the 
oars,  and  his  words  bound  the  pirates  to  him- 
self.    That  night  he  supped  with  the  captain. 
The   second    day    his  knowledge  of   currents, 
coasts  and  the  route  of  treasure-ships    made 
him  first  mate;  then  he  won  the  sailors  over, 
put  the  captain   in   irons,  and  ruled  the  ship 
like  a  king;  soon  after,  he  sailed  the  ship  as  a 
prize  into  a  Roman  port.      If  this   incident  is 
credible,  a  youth  who  in  four  days  can  talk 
the   chains    off    his   wrists,   talk  himself    into 
the   captaincy,    talk    a    pirate    ship    into   his 
own  hands  as   booty,  is  not  to   be  accounted 
for  by  his  eloquent  words.     His   speech  was 
but   a    tithe    of   his    power,   and   wrought  its 
spell    only    when    personality    had    first    cre- 
ated a  sympathetic  atmosphere.     Only  a  frac- 
tion of  a  great  man's  character  can  manifest 
itself   in    speech;    for    the    character   is  inex- 
pressibly   finer    and    larger    than    his    words. 
The  narrative  of  Washington's  exploits  is  the 
smallest  part  of  his  work.     Sheer  weight  of 
personality  alone  can  account  for  him.    Happy 
the  man  of  moral  energy  all  compact,  whose 
mere  presence,  like  that  of  Samuel,  the  seer, 
restrains  others,  softens,  and  transforms  them. 

I  6 


The  Atmosphere  Man  Carries. 

This  is  a  thing  to  be  written  on  a  man's  tomb: 
*  ^  His  2)'>'ese7ice  made  bad  men  goody 

This  mysterious  bundle  of  forces  called 
man,  moving  through  society,  exhaling  bless- 
ings or  blightings,  gets  its  meaning  from  the 
capacity  of  othei'S  to  I'eceive  its  influences. 
Man  is  not  so  wonderful  in  his  power  to  mold 
other  lives,  as  in  his  readiness  to  be  molded. 
Steel  to  hold,  he  is  wax  to  take.  The  Daguer- 
rean  plate  and  the  ^olian  harp  do  but  meagerly 
interpret  his  receptivity.  Therefore,  some  phi- 
losophers think  chai'acter  is  but  the  sum  total 
of  those  many-shaped  influences  called  climate, 
food,  friends,  books,  industries.  As  a  lump  of 
clay  is  lifted  to  the  wheel  by  the  potter's  hand, 
and  under  gentle  pressure  takes  on  the  lines  of 
a  beautiful  cup  or  vase,  so  man  sets  forth  a  mere 
mass  of  mind;  soon,  under  the  gentle  touch  of 
love,  hope,  ambition,  he  stands  forth  in  the 
aspect  of  a  Ci-omwell,  a  Milton  or  a  Lincoln. 

Standing  at  the  center  of  the  universe,  a  thou- 
sand forces  come  rushing  into  report  themselves 
to  the  sensitive  soul-center.  There  is  a  nerve  in 
man  that  runs  out  to  every  room  and  realm  in 
the  universe.  Only  a  tithe  of  the  woi'ld's  truth 
and  beauty  finds  access  to  the  lion  or  lark;  they 
look  out  as  one  in  castle  tower  whose  only  win- 
dow is  a  slit  in  the  rock.  But  man  dwells  in  a 
glass  dome;  to  him  the  world  lies  open  on  every 

17 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

side.  Every  fact  and  force  outside  has  a  desk 
inside  man  where  it  makes  up  its  reports.  The 
ear  rc])orts  all  sounds  and  songs;  the  eye  all 
sights  and  scenes;  the  reason  all  arguments; 
judgment  each  "ought"  and  "ought  not;"  the 
religious  faculty  reports  messages  coming  from 
a  foreign  clime. 

Man's  mechanism  stands  at  the  center  of 
the  universe  with  telegraph-lines  extending 
in  every  direction.  It  is  a  marvelous  pilgrim- 
age he  is  making  through  life  while  myriad 
influences  stream  in  upon  him.  It  is  no 
small  thing  to  carry  such  a  mind  for  three- 
score years  under  the  glory  of  the  heavens, 
through  the  glory  of  the  earth,  midst  the 
majesty  of  the  summer  and  the  sanctity  of  the 
winter,  while  all  things  animate  and  inanimate 
rush  in  through  open  windows.  For  one  thus 
sensitively  constituted  every  moment  trembles 
with  possibilities;  every  hour  is  big  with 
destiny.  The  neglected  blow  cannot  afterward 
be  struck  on  the  cold  iron;  once  the  stamp  is 
given  to  the  soft  metal  it  cannot  be  effaced. 
Well  did  Ruskin  say:  "Take  your  vase  of 
Venice  glass  out  of  the  furnace  and  strew  chaff 
over  it  in  its  transparent  heat,  and  recover 
that  to  its  clearness  and  rubied  glory  when  the 
north  wind  has  blown  upon  it;  but  do  not 
think  to  strew  chaff  over  the  child  fresh  from 

l8 


The  Atmosphere  Man  Carries. 

God's  pi'esence  and  to  bring  the  heavenly  colors 
back  to  him — at  least  in  this  world."  We  are 
accountable  to  God  for  our  influence;  this  it  is 
"that  gives  us  pause." 

Gentle  as  is  the  atmosphere  about  us,  it 
presses  with  a  weight  of  fourteen  pounds  to  the 
square  inch.  No  infant's  hand  feels  its  weight; 
no  leaf  of  aspen  or  wing  of  bird  detects  this 
heavy  pressure,  for  the  fluid  air  presses  equally 
in  all  directions.  Just  so  gentle,  yet  powerful, 
is  the  moi'al  atmosphere  of  a  good  man  as  it 
presses  upon  and  shapes  his  kind.  He  who 
hath  made  man  in  his  own  image  hath  endowed 
him  with  this  forceful  presence.  Ten-talent 
men,  eminent  in  knowledge  and  refinement, 
eminent  in  art  and  wealth,  do,  indeed,  illus- 
trate this.  Proof  also  comes  from  obscur- 
ity, as  pearls  from  homely  oyster  shells. 
Working  among  the  poor  of  London,  an  Eng- 
lish author  searched  out  the  life-career  of  an 
apple  woman.  Her  history  makes  the  story  of 
kings  and  queens  contemptible.  Events  had 
appointed  her  to  poverty,  hunger,  cold  and  two 
rooms  in  a  tenement.  But  there  were  three 
orphan  boys  sleeping  in  an  ash-box  whose  lot 
was  harder.  She  dedicated  her  heai't  and  life 
to  the  little  waifs.  During  two  and  forty  years 
she  mothered  and  reared  some  twenty  orphans 
— gave  them  home  and  bed  and  food;    taught 

19 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

them  all  she  knew;  helped  some  to  obtain  a 
scant  knowledge  of  the  trades;  helped  others 
off  to  Canada  and  America.  The  author  says 
she  had  misshapen  features,  but  that  an 
exquisite  smile  was  on  the  dead  face.  It  must 
have  been  so.  She  "had  a  beautiful  soul,"  as 
Emerson  said  of  Longfellow.  Poverty  disfig- 
ured the  apple  woman's  garret,  and  want  made 
it  wretched;  nevertheless,  God's  most  beautiful 
angels  hovered  over  it.  Her  life  was  a  blossom 
event  in  London's  history.  Social  reform  has 
felt  her  influence.  Like  a  broken  vase  the 
perfume  of  her  being  will  sweeten  literature 
and  society  a  thousand  years  after  we  are 
gone. 

The  Greek  poet  says  men  knew  when  the 
goddess  came  to  Thebes  because  of  the  bless- 
ings she  left  in  her  track.  Her  footprints 
were  not  in  the  sea,  soon  obliterated,  nor  in 
the  snow,  quickly  melting,  but  in  fields  and 
forests.  This  unseen  friend,  passing  by  the 
tree  blackened  by  a  thunderbolt,  stayed  her 
step;  lo!  the  woodbine  sprang  up  and  covered 
the  tree's  nakedness.  She  lingered  by  the 
stagnant  pool — the  pool  became  a  flowing 
spring.  She  rested  upon  a  fallen  log — from 
decay  and  death  came  moss,  the  snowdrop  and 
the  anemone.  At  the  crossing  of  the  brook  were 
her  footprints;  not  in  mud  downward,  but  in 

20 


The  Atmosphere  Man  Carries. 

violets  that  sprang  up  in  her  pathway.  O 
beautiful  prophecy!  literally  fulfilled  2,000 
years  afterward  in  the  life  of  the  London  apple 
woman,  whose  atmosphere  sweetened  bitter 
hearts  and  made  evil  into  good. 

Wealth  and  eminent  position  witness  not  less 
powerfully  the  transforming  influence  of  ex- 
alted characters.  "My  lords,"  said  Salisbury, 
"the  reforms  of  this  century  have  been  chiefly 
due  to  the  presence  here  of  one  man — Lord 
Shaftesbury.  The  genius  of  his  life  was  ex- 
pressed when  last  he  addressed  you.  He  said: 
'When  I  feel  age  creeping  upon  me  I  am  deeply 
grieved,  for  I  cannot  bear  to  go  away  and  leave 
the  world  with  so  much  misery  in  it.'"  So 
long  as  Shaftesbury  lived,  England  beheld  a 
standing  rebuke  of  all  wrong  and  injustice. 
How  many  iniquities  shriveled  up  in  his  pres- 
ence! This  man,  representing  the  noblest  ances- 
try, wealth  and  culture,  wrought  numberless 
refoi'ms.  He  became  a  voice  for  the  poor  and 
weak.  He  gave  his  life  to  reform  acts  and 
coi-n  laws;  he  emancipated  the  enslaved  boys 
and  girls  toiling  in  mines  and  factories;  he  ex- 
posed and  made  impossible  the  horrors  of  that 
inferno  in  which  chimney-sweeps  live;  he 
founded  twoscore  industrial,  ragged  and  trade 
schools;  he  established  shelters  for  the  homeless 
poor;  when   Parliament  closed  its  sessions  at 

21 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

midnight  Lord  Sbaftesbui-y  went  forth  to 
search  out  poor  prodigals  sleeping  under 
Waterloo  or  Blackfriars  bridge,  and  often  in  a 
single  night  brought  a  score  to  his  shelter. 
When  the  funeral  cortege  passed  through  Pall 
Mall  and  Trafalgar  square  on  its  way  to  West- 
minster Abbey,  the  streets  for  a  mile  and  a  half 
were  packed  with  innumerable  thousands.  The 
costermongers  lifted  a  large  banner  on  which 
were  inscribed  these  words :  '  'I  was  sick  and  in 
prison  and  ye  visited  me."  The  boys  from  the 
ragged  schools  lifted  these  words:  "I  was 
hungry  and  naked  and  ye  fed  me."  All  Eng- 
land felt  the  force  of  that  colossal  character. 
To-day  at  that  central  point  in  Piccadilly  where 
the  highways  meet  and  thronging  multitudes 
go  surging  by,  the  English  people  have 
erected  the  statue  of  Shaftesbury — the  fitting 
motto  therefor:  "The  i^eforms  of  this  century 
have  been  chiefly  due  to  the  presence  and 
influence  of  Shaftesbury."  If  our  generation 
is  indeed  held  back  from  injustice  and  anarchy 
and  bloodshed,  it  will  be  because  Shaftesbury 
the  peer,  and  Samuel,  the  seer,  are  duplicated 
in  the  lives  of  our  great  men,  who  stand  forth  to 
plead  the  cause  of  the  poor  and  weak. 

But  man's  atmosphere  is  equally  potent  to 
blight  and  to  shrivel.      Not  time,  but  man,  is 

22 


The  Atmosphere  Man  Carries. 

the  great  destroyer.  History  is  full  of  the 
ruins  of  cities  and  empires.  Innumerable 
Paradises  have  come  and  gone;  Adams  and 
Eves  many,  happy  one  day,  have  been  '  'miser- 
able exiles"  the  next;  and  always  because 
some  satanic  ambition  or  passion  or  person 
entering  has  cast  baneful  shadow  o'er  the 
scene.  Men  talk  of  the  scythe  of  time  and  the 
tooth  of  time.  But,  said  the  art  historian: 
•'Time  is  scytheless  and  toothless;  it  is  we 
who  gnaw  like  the  worm;  we  who  smite  like 
the  scythe.  Fancy  what  treasures  would  be 
ours  to-day  if  the  delicate  statues  and  temples 
of  the  Greeks,  if  the  broad  roads  and  massy 
walls  of  the  Romans,  if  the  noble  architecture, 
castles  and  towns  of  the  Middle  Ages  had  not 
been  ground  to  dust  by  blind  rage  of  man. 
It  is  man  that  is  the  consumer;  he  is  moth  and 
mildew  and  flame."  All  the  gallex'ies  and  tem- 
ples and  libraries  and  cities  have  been  de- 
stroyed by  his  baneful  presence.  Thrice 
armies  have  made  an  arsenal  of  the  Acropolis; 
gi'ound  the  precious  marbles  to  powder,  and 
mixed  their  dust  with  his  ashes.  It  was  man's 
ax  and  hammer  that  dashed  down  the  carved 
work  of  cathedrals  and  turned  the  treasure 
cities  into  battle-fields,  and  opened  galleries 
to  the  mold  of  sea  winds.     Disobedience  to  law 

23 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

has  made  cities  a  heap  and  walled  cities  ruins. 
Man  is  the  pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness. 
Man  is  the  destruction  that  wasteth  at  noonday. 
When  Mephistopheles  appears  in  human 
form  his  presence  falls  upon  homes  like  the 
black  pall  of  the  consuming  plague,  that 
robes  cities  for  death.  The  classic  writer  tells 
of  an  Indian  princess  sent  as  a  present  to 
Alexander  the  Great.  She  was  lovely  as  the 
dawn;  yet  what  especially  distinguished  her 
was  a  certain  rich  perfume  in  her  breath; 
richer  than  a  garden  of  Persian  roses.  A 
sage  physician  discovered  her  terrible  secret. 
This  lovely  woman  had  been  reared  upon  poi- 
sons from  infancy  until  she  herself  was  the 
deadliest  poison  known.  When  a  handful  of 
sweet  flowers  was  given  to  her,  her  bosom 
scorched  and  shriveled  the  petals;  when  the 
rich  perfume  of  her  breath  went  among  a 
swarm  of  insects,  a  score  fell  dead  about  her. 
A  pet  humming-bird  entering  her  atmosphere, 
shuddered,  hung  for  a  moment  in  the  air,  then 
dropped  in  its  final  agony.  Her  love  was  poi- 
son; her  embrace  death.  This  tale  has  held 
a  place  in  literature  because  it  stands  for  men 
of  evil  all  compact,  whose  presence  has  con- 
sumed integrities  and  exhaled  iniquities.  Hap- 
pily the  forces  that  bless  are  always  moi'e 
numerous   and   more   potent    than   those   that 

24 


The  Atmosphere  Man  Carries. 

blight.  Cast  a  bushel  of  chaff  and  one  grain 
of  wheat  into  the  soil  and  nature  will  destroy 
all  the  chaff  but  cause  the  one  grain  of  wheat 
to  usher  in  rich  harvests. 

As  a    force-producer,   man's  primary  influ- 
ence   is    voluntary    in    nature.      This    is     the 
capacity  of   purposely  bringing  all  the  soul's 
powers  to  bear  upon  society.     It  is  the  founda- 
tion of  all  instruction.      The  parent  influences 
the  child  this  way  or  that.      The  artist-master 
plies   his    pupil.     The    brave    general    or  dis- 
coverer   inspires    and    stimulates   his  men  by 
multiform  motives.     The  charioteer  holds  the 
reins,  guides  his  steeds,  restrains  or  lifts  the 
scourge.      Similarly   man    holds    the    reins    of 
influence   over   man,   and    is   himself   in    turn 
guided.     So  friend  shapes  and  molds   friend. 
This  is  what  gives  its  meaning  to   conversa- 
tion, oratory,  journalism,  reforms.     Each  man 
stands  at  the  center  of  a  great  network  of  vol- 
untary   influence  for    good.      Through  words, 
bearing  and  gesture,  he  sends  out  his  energies. 
Oftentimes  a  single  speech  has  effected  great 
reforms.     Oft  one  man's  act  has  deflected  the 
sti^eam  of  the  centuries.     Full  oft  a  single  word 
has  been  like  a  switch  that  turns  a  train  from  the 
route  running   toward  the  frozen  North,  to  a 
track  leading  into  the  tropic  South. 


25 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

Not  seldom  has  a  youth  been  turned  from  the 
way  of  integrity  by  the  influence  of  a  single 
fi'iend.  Endowed  as  man  is,  the  weight  of  his 
being  effects  the  most  aston  is  hing  results.  Wit- 
ness Stratton's  conversation  with  the  drunken 
bookbinder  whom  we  know  as  John  B.  Gough, 
the  apostle  of  temperance.  Witness  Moffat's 
words  that  changed  David  Livingstone,  the 
weaver,  into  David  Livingstone,  the  savior  of 
Africa.  Witness  Garibaldi's  words  fashioning 
the  Italian  mob  into  the  conquering  army. 
Witness  Garrison  and  Beecher  and  Phillips 
and  John  Bright.  Rivers,  winds,  forces  of 
fire  and  steam  are  impotent  comj^ared  to  those 
energies  of  mind  and  heart,  that  make  men 
equal  to  transforming  whole  communities  and 
even  nations.  Who  can  estimate  the  soul's 
conscious  power?  Who  can  measure  the  light 
and  heat  of  last  summer?  Who  can  gather  up 
the  rays  of  the  stars?  Who  can  bring  to- 
gether the  odors  of  last  year's  orchards? 
There  are  no  mathematics  for  computing  the 
influence  of  man's  voluntary  thought,  affec- 
tion and  aspiration  upon  his  fellows. 

Man  has  also  an  unpurposed  influence.  Power 
goes  forth  without  his  distinct  volition.  Like 
all  centers  of  energy,  the  soul  does  its  best 
work  automatically.  The  sun  does  not  think 
of  lifting   the  mist    from    the   ocean,   yet    the 

26 


The  Atmosphere  Man  Carries. 

vapor  moves  skyward.  Often  man  is  ignorant 
of  what  he  accomplishes  upon  his  fellows,  but 
the  results  are  the  same.  He  is  surcharged 
with  energy.  Accomplishing  much  by  plan, 
he  does  more  through  unconscious  weight  of 
personality.  In  wonder- words  we  are  told  the 
apostle  purposely  wrought  deeds  of  mercy 
upon  the  poor.  Yet  through  his  shadow  fall- 
ing on  the  weak  and  sick  as  he  passed  by,  he 
unconsciously  wrought  health  and  hope  in  men. 
In  like  manner  it  is  said  that  while  Jesus  Christ 
was  seeking  to  comfort  the  comfortless,  invol- 
untarily virtue  went  out  of  him  to  strengthen 
one  who  did  but  touch  the  hem  of  his  garment. 
Character  works  with  or  without  consent.  The 
selfish  man  fills  his  office -with  a  malign  atmos- 
phere; his  very  presence  chills  like  a  cold, 
clammy  day.  Suspicious  people  fill  all  the  cir- 
cle in  which  they  live  with  envy  and  jealousy. 
Moody  men  distribute  gloom  and  depression; 
hopelessness  drains  off'  high  spirits  as  cold  iron 
draws  the  heat  from  the  hand.  Domineering 
men  provoke  rebellion  and  breed  endless  irri- 
tations. 

Great  hearts  there  are  also  among  men ; 
they  carry  a  volume  of  manhood;  their  pres- 
ence is  sunshine;  their  coming  changes  our 
climate;  they  oil  the  bearings  of  life;  their 
shadow     always     falls     behind      them;     they 

27 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

make  right  living  easy.  Blessed  are  the 
happiness-makers  ! — they  represent  the  best 
forces  in  civilization.  They  are  to  the  heart 
and  home  what  the  honeysuckle  is  to  the  door 
over  which  it  clings.  These  embodied  gospels 
interpret  Christianity.  Jenny  Lind  explains  a 
sheet  of  printed  music — and  a  royal  Christian 
heart  explains,  and  is  more  than  a  creed.  Lit- 
tle wonder,  when  Christianity  is  incarnated  in  a 
mother,  that  the  youth  worships  her  as  though 
she  were  an  angel.  Someone  has  likened  a 
church  full  of  people  to  a  box  of  unlighted 
candles;  latent  light  is  there;  if  they  were 
only  kindled  and  set  burning  they  would  be 
lights  indeed.  What  God  asks  for  is  luminous 
Christians  and  living  gospels. 

Another  form  of  influence  continues  after 
death,  and  may  be  called  unconscious  immor- 
tality or  conserved  social  energy.  Personality 
is  organized  into  instruments,  tools,  books,  in- 
stitutions. Over  these  forms  of  activity  death 
and  years  have  no  power  for  destroying.  The 
swift  steamboat  and  the  flying  train  tell  us  that 
Watt  and  Stephenson  are  still  toiling  for 
men.  Every  foreign  cablegram  reminds  us 
that  Cyrus  Field  has  just  returned  home. 
The  merchant  who  organizes  a  great  business 
sends  down  to  the  generations  his  personality, 
prudence,    wisdom   and    executive    skill.      The 

28 


The  Atmosphere  Man  Carries. 

names  of  inventors  may  now  be  on  moldering 
tombstones,  but  their  busy  fingei's  are  still 
weaving  warm  textures  for  the  world's  poor. 
The  gardener  of  Hampton  court,  who,  in  old 
age,  wished  to  do  yet  one  more  helpful  deed, 
and  planted  with  elms  and  oaks  the  roadway 
leading  to  the  historic  house,  still  lives  in  those 
columnar  trees,  and  all  the  long  summer 
through  distributes  comfort  and  I'efreshment. 
Every  man  who  opens  up  a  roadway  into  the 
wilderness;  every  engineer  throwing  a  bridge 
over  icy  rivers  for  weary  travelers;  every 
builder  rearing  abodes  of  peace,  happiness  and 
refinement  for  his  generation;  every  smith 
foi'ging  honest  plates  that  hold  great  ships  in 
time  of  storm;  every  patriot  that  redeems  his 
land  with  blood;  every  martyr  forgotten  and 
dying  in  his  dungeon  that  freedom  might 
never  perish;  every  teacher  and  discoverer 
who  has  gone  into  lands  of  fever  and  miasma 
to  carry  liberty,  intelligence  and  I'eligion  to 
the  ignorant,  still  walks  among  men,  working 
for  society  and  is  unconsciously  immortal. 

This  is  fame.  Life  hath  no  holier  ambi- 
tion. Some  there  are  who,  denied  oppor- 
tunity, have  sought  out  those  ambitious  to 
learn,  and,  educating  them,  have  sent  their 
own  personality  out  through  artists,  jurists 
or    authors    they    have    trained.      Herein    is 

29 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

the  test  of  the  greatness  of  editor  or  states- 
man or  merchant.  He  has  so  incarnated  his 
ideas  or  methods  in  his  helpers  that,  while 
his  body  is  one,  his  spirit  has  many-shaped 
forms;  so  that  his  journal,  or  institution,  or 
party  feels  no  jar  nor  shock  in  his  death,  but 
moves  quietly  forward  because  he  is  still  here 
liviup;  and  workino;  in  those  into  whom  his 
spirit  is  incarnated.  Death  ends  the  single 
life,  but  our  multiplied  life  in  others  survives. 
The  supreme  example  of  atmosphere  and 
influence  is  Jesus  Christ.  His  was  a  force 
mightier  than  intellect.  Wherever  he  moved 
a  light  ne'er  seen  on  land  nor  sea  shone  on  man. 
It  was  more  than  eminent  beauty  or  supreme 
genius.  His  scepter  was  not  through  cunning 
of  brain  or  craft  of  hand;  reality  was  his 
throne.  "Therefore,"  said  Charles  Lamb, 
"if  Shakespeare  should  enter  the  room  we 
should  rise  and  greet  him  uncovered;  but 
kneeling  meet  the  Nazarene. "  His  gift  cannot 
be  bought  nor  commanded;  but  his  secret  and 
charm  may  be  ours.  Acceptance,  obedience, 
companionship  with  him — these  are  the  keys  of 
power.  The  legend  is,  that  so  long  as  the 
Grecian  hero  touched  the  ground,  he  was 
strong;  and  measureless  the  influence  of  him 
who  ever  dwells  in  Christ's  atmosphere.  Man 
grows    like    those    he    loves.      If    great  men 

30 


The  Atmosphere  Man  Carries. 

come  in  groups,  there  is  always  a  greater 
man  in  the  midst  of  the  company  from  whom 
they  borrowed  eminence — Socrates  and  his  dis- 
ciples; Cromwell  and  his  friends;  Coleridge  and 
his  company;  Emerson  and  the  Boston  group; 
high  over  all  the  twelve  disciples  and  the  Name 
above  every  name.  Perchance,  in  vision-hour, 
over  against  the  man  you  are  he  will  show  you 
the  man  he  would  fain  have  you  become;  there- 
by comes  greatness.  For  value  is  not  in  iron, 
but  in  the  pattern  that  molds  it;  beauty  is 
not  in  the  pigments,  but  in  the  ideal  that 
blends  them;  strength  is  not  in  the  stone  or 
marble,  but  in  the  plan  of  architect;  greatness 
is  not  in  wisdom,  nor  wealth,  nor  skill,  but  in 
the  divine  Christ  who  works  up  these  raw  ma- 
terials of  character.  Forevermore  the  secret 
of  eminence  is  the  secret  of  the  Messiah, 


31 


Life's  Great  Hearts,  and  the  Help- 
fulness OF  THE  Higher   Manhood. 


"  Heaven  doth  with  us  as  we  with  torches  do, 

Not  light  them  for  themselves  ;  for  if  our  virtues 

Did  not  go  forth  of  us,  'twere  all  alike 

As  if  we  had  them  not.      Spirits  are  not  finely  touched 

But  to  fine  issues  ;  nor  Nature  never  lends 

The  smallest  scruple  of  her  excellence, 

But,  like  a  thrifty  goddess,  she  determines 

Herself  the  glory  of  a  creditor — 

Both  thanks  and  use."  — Measure  for  Measure, 

"  A  man  was  born,  not  for  prosperity,  but  to  suffer  for  the 
benefit  ot  others,  like  tlie  noble  rock  maple,  which,  all  round  our 
villages,  bleeds  for  the  service  of  man." — Emerson. 

*'  Everything  cries  out  to  us  that  we  must  renounce.  Thou 
must  go  without,  go  without!  That  is  the  everlasting  song 
wliich  every  hour,  all  our  life  through,  hoarsely  sings  to  us :  Die, 
and  come  to  life  5  for  so  long  as  this  is  not  accomplished  thou  art 
but  a  troubled  guest  upon  an  earth  of  gloom." — Goethe. 


CHAPTER   II. 

Life's  Great  Hearts,  and  the  Help- 
fulness OF  THE  Higher  Manhood. 

The  oases  in  the  Arabian  desert  lie  under 
the  lee  of  long  ridges  of  rock.  The  high 
cliffs  extending  from  north  to  south  are  bar- 
riers against  the  drifting  sand.  Standing  on 
the  rocky  summit  the  seer  Isaiah  beheld  a  sea 
whose  yellow  waves  stretched  to  the  very  hor- 
izon. By  day  the  winds  were  still,  for  the  pit- 
iless Asiatic  sun  made  the  desert  a  furnace 
whose  air  rose  upward.  But  when  night  falls 
the  wind  rises.  Then  the  sand  begins  to  drift. 
Soon  every  object  lies  buried  under  yellow 
flakes.  Anon,  sandstorms  arise.  Then  the 
sole  hope  for  man  is  to  fall  upon  his  face;  the 
sky  rains  bullets.  Then  appears  the  minis- 
try of  the  rocks.  They  stay  the  drifting 
sand.  To  the  yellow  sea  they  say:  "Thus  far, 
but  no  farther."  Desolation  is  held  back. 
Soon  the  land  under  the  lee  of  the  rocks  be- 
comes rich.  It  is  fed  by  springs  that  seep  out 
of  the  cliffs.  It  becomes  a  veritable  oasis 
with  figs  and  olives  and  vineyards  and  aro- 
matic shrubs.  Here  dwell  the  sheik  and  his 
flocks.     Hither  come  the  caravans  seeking  re- 

35 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

freshmen t.  In  all  the  Orient  no  spot  so 
beautiful  as  the  oasis  under  the  shadow  of  the 
rocks.  Long  centuries  ago,  while  Isaiah  re- 
joiced under  the  beneficent  ministry  of  these 
cliffs,  his  thoughts  went  out  from  dead  rocks 
to  livino;  men.  In  his  vision  he  saw  good  men 
as  Great  Hearts,  to  whom  crowded  close  the 
weak  and  ignorant,  seeking  protection.  Shel- 
tei'ed  thereby  barren  lives  were  nourished  into 
bounty  and  beauty.  With  leaping  heart  and 
streaming  eyes  he  cried  out:  "O,  what  a  des- 
ert is  life  but  for  the  ministry  of  the  higher 
manhood!  To  Avhat  shall  I  liken  a  good  man? 
A  man  shall  be  as  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock 
in  a  weary  land;  a  shelter  in  the  time  of 
storm!  " 

Optimists  always,  we  believe  God's  world  is 
a  good  world.  Joy  is  more  than  sorrow;  hap- 
piness outweighs  misery;  the  reasons  for  liv- 
inir  are  more  numerous  than  the  i-easons 
against  it.  But  let  the  candid  mind  confess 
that  life  hath  aspects  very  desert-like.  To- 
day prosperity  grows  like  a  fruitful  tree;  to- 
morrow adversity's  hot  winds  wither  every 
leaf.  God  plants  companion,  child,  or  friend 
in  the  life-o;arden ;  but  death  blasts  the  tree 
under  which  the  soul  finds  shelter;  then  begins 
the   desert   pilgrimage.     Soon   comes   loss  of 

36 


Helpfulness  of  the  Higher  Manhood. 

health;  then  the  wealth  of  Croesus  availeth 
not  for  refreshing  sleep,  and  the  wisdom  of 
Solomon  is  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit.  The 
common  people,  too,  know  blight  and  blast; 
their  life  is  full  of  mortal  toil  and  strife;  its 
fruitage  grief  and  pain.  Temptations  and 
evil  purposes  are  the  chief  blights.  When  the 
fiery  passion  hath  passed  the  soul  is  like  a  city 
swept  by  a  conflagration.  Each  night  we  go 
before  the  judgment-seat.  Reason  hears  the 
case;  memory  gives  evidence;  conscience  con- 
victs; each  faculty  goes  to  the  left;  self- 
respect  pushes  us  out  of  paradise  into  the 
desert;  and  the  angels  of  our  better  nature 
guard  the  gates  with  flaming  swords. 

A  journey  among  men  is  like  a  journey 
through  some  land  after  the  cyclone  has  made 
the  village  a  heap  and  the  harvest  fields  a 
waste.  An  outlook  upon  the  generations  re- 
minds us  of  a  highway  along  which  the  retreat- 
ing army  has  passed,  leaving  abandoned  guns 
and  silent  cannon  with  men  dead  and  dying. 
Travelers  from  tropical  Mexico  describe  ruined 
cities  and  lovely  villages  away  from  which 
civilized  men  journey,  leaving  temples  and  ter- 
raced gardens  to  moss  and  ivy.  The  deserted 
valleys  are  rich  in  tropic  fruits  and  the  cli- 
mate   soft   and    gentle.     Yet  Aztecs  left  the 

37 


a^;^5G8G 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

garden  to  journey  northward  into  the  deserts 
of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico.  Often  for  the 
soul  paradise  is  not  before,  but  behind. 

Shakespeare  condenses  all  this  in  "King 
Lear."  Avarice  closes  the  palace  doors  against 
the  white-haired  King.  Greed  pushes  him 
into  the  night  to  wander  o'er  the  wasted  moor, 
an  exiled  king,  uncrowned  and  uncared  for. 
In  such  hours  gai'den  becomes  desert.  This  is 
the  drama  of  man's  life.  The  soul  thirsts  for 
sympathy.  It  hungers  for  love.  Baffled  and 
broken  it  seeks  a  great  heart.  For  the  pil- 
grim multitudes  Moses  was  the  shadow  on  a 
great  rock  in  a  weary  land.  For  poor, 
hunted  David,  Jonathan  was  a  covert  in  time 
of  storm.  Savonarola,  Luther,  Cromwell  shel- 
tered perishing  multitudes.  Solitary  in  the 
midst  of  the  vale  in  which  death  will  soon  die 
a  grave  for  each  of  us  stands  the  immortal 
Christ,  "the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary 
land." 

That  Infinite  Being  who  hath  made  man  in 
his  own  image  hath  endowed  the  soul  with 
full  power  to  transform  the  desert  into  an 
oasis.  The  soul  carries  wondrous  implements. 
It  is  given  to  reason  to  carry  fertility  where 
ignorance  and  fear  and  superstition  have 
wrought  desolation.  It  is  given  to  inventive 
skill  to  search  out  wellsprings  and  smite  rocks 

3« 


Helpfulness  of  the  Higher  Manhood. 

into  living  water.  It  is  given  to  affection  to 
hive  sweetness  like  honeycombs.  It  is  given 
to  wit  and  imagination  to  pi-oduce  perpetual 
joy  and  gladness.  It  is  given  to  love  in 
the  person  of  a  Duff,  a  Judson,  and  a 
Xavier  to  transform  dark  continents.  Great 
is  the  power  of  love!  "No  abandoned  boy  in 
the  city,  no  red  man  in  the  mountains,  no 
negro  in  Africa  can  resist  its  sweet  solicitude. 
It  undermines  like  a  wave,  it  rends  like  an 
earthquake,  it  melts  like  a  fire,  it  inspires  like 
music,  it  binds  like  a  chain,  it  detains  like  a 
good  story,  it  cheers  like  a  sunbeam."  No 
other  power  is  immeasurable.  For  things 
have  only  partial  influence  over  living  men. 
Forests,  fields,  skies,  tools,  occupations,  in- 
dustries— these  all  stop  in  the  outer  court  of 
the  soul.  It  is  given  to  affection  alone  to  en- 
ter the  sacred  inner  precincts.  But  once  the 
good  man  comes  his  power  is  irresistible. 
Witness  Arnold  among  the  schoolboys  at 
Rugby.  Witness  Garibaldi  and  his  peas- 
ant soldiers.  Witness  the  Scottish  chief 
and  his  devoted  clan.  Witness  artist  pupils 
inflamed  by  their  masters.  What  a  noble 
group  is  that  headed  by  Horace  Mann, 
Garrison,  Phillips  and  Inncoln  !  General 
Booth  belongs  to  a  like  group.  What  a  min- 
istry of  mercy  and  fertility  and  protection  have 

39 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

these  great  hearts  wrought!     Great  hearts  be- 
come a  shelter  in  time  of  storm. 

All  social  reforms  begin  with  some  great 
heart.  Much  now  is  being  said  of  the  destitu- 
tion in  the  poorer  districts  of  great  cities. 
Dante  saw  a  second  hell  deeper  than  hell  itself. 
Each  great  modern  city  hath  its  inferno.  Here 
dwell  costermongers,  rag-pickers  and  street- 
cleaners;  here  the  sweater  hath  his  haunts. 
Huge  rookeries  and  tenements,  whose  every 
brick  exudes  filth,  teem  with  miserable  folk. 
Each  room  has  one  or  more  families,  from  the 
second  cellar  at  the  bottom  to  the  garret  at  the 
top.  No  greensward,  no  park,  no  blade  of  grass. 
Whole  districts  are  as  bare  of  beauty  as  an  en- 
larged ash-heap.  Here  children  are  "spawned, 
not  born,  and  die  like  flies."  Here  men  and 
women  grow  bitter.  Here  anarchy  grows 
rank.  And  to  such  a  district  in  one  great  city 
has  gone  a  man  of  the  finest  scholarship  and 
the  highest  position,  to  become  the  friend  of 
the  poor.  With  him  is  his  bosom  friend,  hav- 
ing wealth  and  culture,  with  pictures,  mar- 
bles and  curios.  Every  afternoon  they  invite 
several  hundred  poor  women  to  spend  an  hour 
in  the  conservatory  among  the  flowers.  Every 
evening  with  stereopticon  they  take  a  thou- 
sand boys  or  men  upon  a  journey  to  Italy 
or  Egypt  or  Japan.      The  kindergartens,  pub- 

40 


Helpfulness  of  the  Higher  Manhood. 

lie  schools  and  art  exhibits  cause  these  women 
and  children  to  forget  for  a  time  their  misery. 
One  hour  daily  is  redeemed  from  sorrow  to  joy 
by  beautiful  things  and  kindly  surroundings. 
Love  and  sympathy  have  sheltered  them 
from  life's  fierce  heat.  Bitter  lives  are  slowly 
being  sweetened.  Springs  ai-e  being  ojDened 
in  the  desert.  These  great  hearts  have  become 
"  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land." 
The  Russian  reformer,  novelist  and  philan- 
thropist, had  an  experience  that  profoundly  in- 
fluenced his  career.  Famine  had  wrought 
great  suffering  in  Russia.  One  day  the  good 
poet  passed  a  beggar  on  the  street  corner. 
Stretching  out  gaunt  hands,  with  blue  lips  and 
watery  eyes,  the  miserable  creature  asked  an 
alms.  Quickly  the  author  felt  for  a  copper.  He 
turned  his  pockets  inside  out.  He  was  without 
purse  or  ring  or  any  gift.  Then  the  kind  man 
took  the  beggar's  hand  in  both  of  his  and  said: 
"Do  not  be  angry  with  me,  brother;  I  have 
nothing  with  me  !"  The  gaunt  face  lighted  up; 
the  man  lifted  his  bloodshot  eyes;  his  blue  lips 
parted  in  a  smile.  "But  you  called  me  brother 
— that  was  a  great  gift."  Returning  an  hour 
later  he  found  the  smile  he  had  kindled  still 
lingered  on  the  beggar's  face.  His  body  had 
been  cold;  kindness  had  made  his  heart  warm. 
The  good  man  was  as  a  covert  in  time  of  storm. 

41 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

History  and  experience  exhibit  now  and 
then  a  man  as  unyielding  as  rock  in  friend- 
ships. Years  ago  a  gifted  youth  began  his  lit- 
erary career.  Wealth,  travel,  friends,  all  good 
gifts  were  his.  One  day  a  friend  handed  him 
a  telegram  containing  news  of  his  father's 
death.  Then  the  mother  faded  away.  The 
youth  was  alone  in  the  world.  In  that  hour 
evil  companions  gathered  around  him.  They 
spoiled  him  of  his  fresh  innocency.  They 
taught  the  delicate  boy  to  listen  to  salacity 
without  blushing.  Soon  coarse  quips  and  rude 
jests  ceased  to  shock  him.  He  thought  to  "  see 
life"  by  seeing  the  wrecks  of  manhood  and 
womanhood.  But  does  one  study  architecture 
by  visiting  hovels  and  squalid  cabins?  Is  not 
studying  architecture  seeing  the  finest  man- 
sions and  galleries  and  cathedrals?  So  to  see 
life  is  to  see  manhood  at  its  best  and  woman- 
hood  when   carried   up  to  culture  and  beauty. 

Wasting  his  fortune  this  youth  wasted  also 
his  friendships.  One  man  loved  him  for  his 
father's  sake.  For  several  years  every  Satur- 
day night  witnessed  this  man  of  oak  and  rock 
going  from  den  to  den  looking  for  his  old 
friend's  boy.  One  day  he  wrote  the  youth  a 
letter  telling  him,  whether  or  not  he  found 
him,  so  long  as  he  lived  he  would  be  looking 
for  him   every  Saturday  night  in  hope  of  re- 

42 


Helpfulness  of  the  Higher  Manhood. 

deeming  him  again  to  integrity.  What  noth- 
ing else  could  do  love  did.  Kindness  wrought 
its  miracle.  Clasping  hands  the  man  and  boy 
climbed  back  again  to  the  heights.  At  first 
the  integrity  was  at  best  a  poor,  sickly  plant. 
But  his  friend  was  a  refuge  in  time  of  storm. 
A  good  man  became  the  shadow  of  a  great 
rock  in  life's  weary  land. 

Our  age  is  specially  interested  in  the  rela- 
tion of  happiness  to  the  street,  the  market 
and  counting-room.  We  have  not  yet  acknowl- 
edged the  responsibility  of  strength.  Not 
always  have  our  giant  minds  confessed  the  debt 
of  power  to  weakness;  the  debt  of  wisdom  to 
ignorance;  the  debt  of  wealth  to  poverty;  the 
debt  of  holiness  to  iniquity.  Jesus  Christ  was 
the  first  to  incarnate  this  principle.  By  so 
much  as  the  parent  is  wiser  than  the  babe  for 
building  a  protecting  shield  for  happiness  and 
well-being,  by  that  much  is  the  mother  in- 
debted to  her  babe.  Why  is  one  man  more 
successful  than  another  in  the  street's  fierce 
conflict  ?  Because  he  has  more  resources ;  is 
prudent,  thrifty,  quick  to  seize  upon  oppor- 
tunity, sagacious,  keen  of  judgment.  All  these 
qualities  are  birth-gifts.  The  ancestral  foot- 
hills slope  upward  toward  the  mountain-minded. 
And  what  do  these  distinguished  mental  qual- 
ities involve? 

43 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

Recognizing  the  responsibility  of  men  of 
leisure  and  wealth,  John  Ruskin  said:  "Shall 
one  by  bi'eadth  and  sweep  of  sight  gather  some 
branch  of  the  commerce  of  the  country  into  one 
great  cobweb  of  which  he  is  himself  to  be  the 
master  spider,  making  every  thread  vibrate 
with  the  points  of  his  claws,  and  commanding 
every  avenue  with  the  facets  of  his  eyes?  " 
Shall  the  industrial  or  political  giant  say :  "Here 
is  the  power  in  my  hand;  weakness  owes  me  a 
debt?  Build  a  mound  here  for  me  to  be  throned 
upon.  Come,  weave  tapestries  for  my  feet  that  I 
may  tread  in  silk  and  purple;  dance  before  me 
that  I  may  be  glad,  and  sing  sweetly  to  me  that 
I  may  slumber.  So  shall  I  live  in  joy  and  die 
in  honor."  Rather  than  such  an  honorable 
death,  it  were  better  that  the  day  perish 
wherein  such  strength  was  born.  Rather  let 
the  great  mind  become  also  the  great  heart, 
and  stretch  out  his  scepter  over  the  heads  of 
the  common  people  that  stoop  to  its  waving. 
"Let  me  help  you  subdue  the  obstacle  that 
baffled  our  fathers,  and  put  away  the  plagues 
that  consume  our  children.  Let  us  together 
water  these  dry  places;  plow  these  desert 
moons;  carry  this  food  to  those  who  are  in  hun- 
ger; carry  this  light  to  those  who  are  in  dark- 
ness; carry  this  life  to  those  who  are  in  death." 

Superiority  is  to  make  erring  men  unerring 

44 


Helpfulness  of  the  Higher  Manhood. 

and  slow  minds  swift.  Then,  indeed,  comes  the 
better  day — pi'ay  God  it  be  not  far  off — when 
strength  uses  its  wealth  as  the  net  of  the 
sacred  fisher  to  gather  souls  of  men  out  of 
the  deep. 

In  overplus  of  strength  we  have  the  meas- 
ure of  a  man's  greatness.  Soul-power  is  re- 
soui'ce  for  findino-  and  feeding;  the  hidden 
springs  of  life  and  thought  in  others.  Not 
all  have  the  same  capacity.  The  Lord  of  the 
vineyard  still  sends  into  the  white  fields  ten- 
talent  men,  two-talent  men  and  one-talent 
men.  Each  hath  his  own  task,  and  each  must 
grasp  the  handle  of  his  own  being.  Genius  is 
widely  distributed.  Not  many  Platos — only 
one,  and  then  a  thousand  lesser  minds  look  up 
to  him  and  learn  to  think.  Not  many  Dantes 
— one,  and  a  thousand  poets  tune  their  lyres  to 
his  and  catch  its  notes.  Not  many  Raphaels 
— one,  and  a  thousand  aspiring  artists  look  up 
to  him  and  are  lifted  by  the  look.  Not  many 
royal  hearts — great  magazines  of  kindness. 
Few  are  great  in  heart-power,  effulging  all 
sweet  and  generous  qualities.  Happy  the 
community  blessed  with  a  few  great  hearts 
and  a  few  great  minds.  One  such  will  civilize 
a  whole  community. 

Classic  litei'ature  charmed  our  childhood 
with    the   story   of    an   Arabian   sheik.      He 

45 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

dwelt  in  an  oasis  near  the  edge  of  the  desert. 
Wealth  was  his,  with  flocks  and  herds  and 
wedges  of  gold.  One  night  sleep  forsook  his 
couch.  Yet  the  gurgle  of  falling  water  was 
in  his  ear.  The  odors  of  the  vineyard  were 
in  his  nostril;  and  to-morrow  his  servants 
would  begin  to  gather  the  abundant  harvest 
Ten  miles  away  ran  the  track  of  the  caravan 
where  his  herdsmen  had  found  a  traveler  dead 
from  the  fierce  heat  of  the  desert.  Yonder 
the  desert  and  a  dying  traveler;  hei*e  an  oasis 
with  living  water.  Then  the  sheik  arose;  he 
bade  his  servants  fill  two  leathern  water-bot- 
tles and  bring  a  basket  full  of  figs  and  grapes. 
The  next  day  a  caravan  came  to  a  booth  pro- 
tecting two  water-bottles  sunk  in  the  sand. 
Beside  them  were  bunches  of  fruit.  On  a 
roll  were  these  woi'ds :  ' '  While  God  gives  me 
life  each  day  shall  a  man  be — as  springs  of 
water  in  a  desert  place."  This  beautiful  story 
interprets  for  us  the  ministry  of  the  higher 
manhood,  as  the  gi'eat  heart  becomes  the 
shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land. 

This  law  of  human  helpfulness  asks  each 
man  to  carry  himself  so  as  to  bless  and  not 
blight  men,  to  make  and  not  mar  them.  Be- 
sides the  great  ends  of  attaining  character 
here  and  immortality  hereafter,  we  are  bound 
to  so  administer  our  talents  as   to  make  right 

46 


Helpfulness  of  the  Higher  Manhood. 

living  easy  and  smooth  for  others.  Happy  is 
he  whose  soul  automatically  oils  all  the  ma- 
chinery of  the  home,  the  market  and  the 
street.  And  this  ambition  to  be  universally 
helpful  must  not  be  a  transient  and  occa- 
sional one — here  and  there  an  hour's  friend- 
ship, a  passing  hint  of  sympathy,  a  transient 
gleam  of  kindness.  Heart  helpfulness  is  to 
enter  into  the  fundamental  conceptions  of  our 
living.  With  vigilant  care  man  is  to  expel 
every  element  that  vexes  or  irritates  or  chafes 
just  as  the  husbandman  expels  nettles  and 
poison  ivy  from  fruitful  gardens. 

For  nothing  is  so  easily  wrecked  as  the  soul. 
As  mechanisms  go  up  toward  complexity,  deli- 
cacy increases.  The  fragile  vase  is  ruined  by 
a  single  tap.  A  chance  blow  destroys  the 
statue.  A  bit  of  sand  ruins  the  delicate 
mechanism.  But  the  soul  is  even  more  sensi- 
tive to  injury.  It  is  marred  by  a  word  or  a 
look.  Men  are  responsible  for  the  ruin  they 
work  unthinkingly.  To-day  the  engine  drops 
a  spark  behind  it.  To-morrow  that  engine  is 
a  thousand  miles  away.  Yet  the  spark  left  be- 
hind is  now  a  column  of  fire  mowing  down 
the  forests.  And  that  devastating  column 
belongs  not  to  another,  but  to  that  engine 
that  hath  journeyed  far.  Thus  the  evil  man 
does  lives    after   him.     The  condemnation   of 

47 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

life  is  that  a  man  hath  carried  friction  and 
stirred  up  malign  elements  and  sowed  fiery 
discords,  so  that  the  gods  track  him  by  the 
swath  of  destruction  he  hath  cut  through 
life.  The  praise  of  life  is  that  a  man  hath 
exhaled  bounty  and  stimulus  and  joy  and 
gladness  wherever  he  journeys.  To-day  noble 
examples  and  ten  thousand  precepts  unite  in 
urging  every  one  to  become  a  great  heart. 
Every  individual  must  bring  together  his 
little  group  of  pilgrim  friends,  companions, 
employes,  using  whatever  he  has  of  wisdom 
and  skill  for  guiding  those  who  follow  him  on 
their  desert  march.  For  happiness  is  through 
helpfulness.  Every  morning  let  us  build  a 
booth  to  shelter  someone  from  life's  fierce  heat. 
Every  noon  let  us  dig  some  life-spring  for 
thirsty  lips.  Every  night  let  us  be  food  for 
the  hungry  and  shelter  for  the  cold  and  naked. 
The  law  of  the  higher  manhood  asks  man  to 
be  a  great  heart,  the  shadow  of  a  rock  in  a 
weary  land. 


48 


The  Investment  of  Talent 
AND  Its  Return. 


"  The  universal  blunder  of  this  world  is  in  thinking  that 
there  are  certain  persons  put  into  the  world  to  govern  and  certain 
others  to  obey.  Everybody  is  in  this  world  to  govern  and  every- 
body to  obey.  There  are  no  benefactors  and  no  beneficiaries  in 
distinct  classes.  Every  man  is  at  once  both  benefactor  and  bene- 
ficiary. Every  good  deed  you  do  you  ought  to  thank  yoar  fellow- 
man  for  giving  you  an  opportunity  to  do  j  and  they  ought  to  be 
thankful  to  you  for  doing  it." — Phillips  Brooks. 

"  Pity  is  love  and  something  more  ;   love  at  its  utmost." 

—  T.   T.  Munger,  ^^Freedom  of  FaithJ'^ 

"  The  great  idea  that  the  Bible  is  the  history  of  mankind's 
deliverance  from  all  tyranny,  outward  as  well  as  inward  ;  of  the 
Jews,  as  the  one  free  constitutional  people  among  a  world  of  slaves 
and  tyrants  ;  of  their  ruin,  as  the  righteous  fruit  of  a  voluntary 
return  to  despotism  ;  of  the  New  Testament,  as  the  good  news 
that  freedom,  brotherhood,  equality,  once  confided  only  to  Ju- 
dea  and  to  Greece,  and  dimly  seen  even  there,  was  henceforth  to  be 
the  right  of  all  mankind,  the  law  of  all  society— who  was  there 
to  tell  me  that  ?  Who  is  there  now  to  go  forth  and  tell  it  to  the 
millions  who  have  suffered  and  doubted  and  despaired  like  me, 
and  turn  the  hearts  of  the  disobedient  to  the  wisdom  of  the  just, 
before  the  great  and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord  come  ?  Again  I 
ask — who  will  go  forth  and  preach  that  gospel  and  save  his  native 
land  ?"— C//^r/es  Kingsley,  ''Alton  Locke.''' 


CHAPTER  III. 

The   Investment  of  Talent 
AND   Its   Return. 

In  all  ages  man  has  been  stimulated  to 
sowing  by  the  certainty  of  reaping.  To- 
morrow's sheaves  and  shoutings  support  to- 
day's tearful  sowing.  Certainty  of  victory 
wins  battles  before  they  are  fought.  Armed 
with  confidence  patriots  have  beaten  down 
stone  castles  with  naked  fists.  Uncertainty 
makes  the  heart  sick,  takes  nerve  out  of 
arm  and  tension  out  of  thought.  The  mere 
rumor  of  war  along  the  border-lines  of  nations 
destroys  enterprise  and  industry.  Men  will 
not  plow  if  warhorses  are  to  trample  down 
the  ripe  grain.  Men  will  not  build  if  the 
enemy  are  to  warm  hands  over  blazing  raft- 
ers. Why  should  the  husbandman  plant  vines 
if  others  are  to  wrest  away  his  fruit?  The 
individual  and  the  race  need  the  stimulus  of 
hope  and  a  rational  basis  of  security  that 
nothing  shall  cut  the  connection  between  the 
causes  sown  and  the  effects  to  be  reaped. 
Therefore,  the  divine  word:  "Send  forth 
thy  gift  and  talent,  and  nature  and  provi- 
so 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

dence   shall    invest   it    securely   and  give    the 
talent  back  with  interest  and  increase." 

What  a  promise  for  civilization  was  that  of 
Christ:  "Give  and  it  shall  be  given  unto 
you!"  Let  the  husbandman  give  his  seed  to 
the  furrows ;  soon  the  furrows  will  give  back 
big  bundles  into  the  sower's  arms.  Let  the 
vintner  give  the  sweat  of  his  brow  to  the  vines; 
soon  the  vines  will  give  back  the  rich  purple 
floods.  Give  thy  thought,  O  husbandman  !  to 
the  wild  rice;  soon  nature  will  give  back  the 
rice  plump  wheat.  Give  thyself,  O  inventor  ! 
to  the  raw  ores,  and  nature  will  give  thee  the 
forceful  tools.  Give  thyself,  O  reformer  !  to 
the  desert  world;  soon  the  world-desert  will  be 
given  back  a  world-garden.  Give  sparingly 
to  nature,  and  sparingly  shalt  thou  receive 
again.  Give  bountifully,  and  bounty  shall  be 
given  back.  Give  scant  thought  and  drag  but 
one  plank  to  the  stream,  and  thou  shalt  receive 
only  a  narrow  bridge  across  the  brook.  Give 
abundant  thought  to  wires  and  cables  and  but- 
tresses, and  nature  will  give  the  bridge  across 
the  Firth  of  Forth.  Give  God  thy  one  talent 
and,  investing  it,  he  returns  ten.  Give  the  cup 
of  cold  water  and  thou  shalt  have  rivers  of 
water  of  life.  Share  thy  crust  and  thy  cloak, 
and  thou  shalt  have  banquet  and  robe  and 
house  of  many  mansions.       This  is   the  pledge 

52 


The  Investment  of  Talent. 

of  nature  and  God:  "Give,  and  good  measure 
pressed  down  and  shaken  together,  shalt  thou 
receive  of  celestial  reapers."  The  history  of 
progress  is  the  history  of  Christ's  challenge 
and  man's  response, 

Christianity  deals  in  universals.  Its  prin- 
ciples are  not  local  nor  racial  nor  temporary. 
They  are  meridian  lines  taking  in  all  forces, 
men  and  movements.  Nature,  too,  saith:  "Give 
and  it  shall  be  given  unto  you."  The  sun 
gives  heat  to  the  forests,  and  afterward  the 
burning  coal  and  tree  give  heat  back  to  the 
heavens;  the  arctics  give  icebergs  and  frigid 
streams  for  cooling  the  fierce  tropics,  and  the 
tropics  give  back  the  warm  Gulf  Stream.  The 
soil  in  the  spring  gives  its  treasures  to  the 
growing  tree,  and  in  the  autumn  the  tree  gives 
its  leaves  to  make  the  soil  richer  and  deeper. 
Personal  also  is  this  principle.  Give  thy  body 
food  and  thy  body  will  give  thee  mental 
strength.  Give  thy  blow  to  the  ax,  and  the 
ax  will  return  the  fallen  tree,  with  strong  tools 
for  thy  ai-m.  Give  thy  brain  sleep  and  rest 
and  thy  brain  will  give  thy  thought  nimble- 
ness.  Give  thy  mind  to  rocks,  and  the  rock 
pages  will  give  thee  wealth  of  wisdom.  Give 
thy  thought  to  the  fire  and  water,  and  they 
will  give  thee  an  engine  stronger  than 
tamed  lions.     Give  thy  scrutiny  to  the  thun- 

53 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

derbolt  leaping  from  the  east  to  the  west,  and 
the  lightnings  shall  give  themselves  back  to 
thee  as  noiseless  and  gentle  and  obedient 
as  the  sunlight.  Give  thy  mind  to  books 
and  libraries,  and  the  literature  and  lore  of  the 
ages  will  give  thee  the  wisdom  of  sage  and 
seer.  Let  some  hero  give  his  love  and  self- 
sacrificing  service  to  the  poor  in  prisons,  and 
society  will  give  him  in  return  monuments  and 
grateful  memory.  Give  thy  obedience  to  con- 
science, and  God,  whom  conscience  serves,  will 
give  Himself  to  thee. 

Being  a  natural  principle,  this  law  is  also 
spiritual.  Standing  by  his  mother's  knee 
each  child  hears  the  story  of  the  echo.  The 
boy  visiting  in  the  mountains,  when  he 
called  aloud  found  that  he  was  mocked  by 
a  hidden  stranger  boy.  The  insult  made 
him  very  angry.  So  he  shouted  back  insults 
and  epithets.  But  each  of  these  bad  woi'ds  was 
returned  to  him  from  the  rocks  above.  With 
bitter  tears  the  child  returned  to  his  mother, 
who  sent  him  back  to  give  the  hidden  stranger 
kind  words  and  affectionate  greetings.  Lo! 
the  stranger  now  echoed  back  his  kindliness. 
Thus  society  echoes  back  each  temperament 
and  each  career.  Evermore  man  receives  what 
he  first  gives  to  nature  and  society  and  God. 
History    is   rich   in    interpretation  of  this 

54 


The  Investment  of  Talent. 

principle.  In  every  age  man  has  received  from 
society  what  he  has  given  to  society.  This  con- 
tinent lay  waiting  for  ages  for  the  seed  of  civil- 
ization. At  length  the  sower  went  forth  to  sow. 
Landing  in  midwinter  upon  a  bleak  coast,  the 
fathers  gave  themselves  to  cutting  roads, 
draining  swamps,  subduing  grasses,  rear- 
ing villages,  until  all  the  land  was  sown 
with  the  good  seed  of  liberty  and  Christian 
civilization.  Afterward,  when  tyranny  threat- 
ened liberty,  these  worthies  in  defending  their 
institutions  gave  life  itself.  Dying,  they  be- 
queathed their  treasures  to  after  generations. 
At  length  an  enemy,  darkling,  lifted  weapons 
for  destroying,  Would  these  who  had  received 
institutions  nourished  with  blood,  give  life-blood 
in  return?  The  uprising  of  1861  is  the  answer. 
Then  the  people  rose  as  one  man,  the  plow 
stood  in  the  furrow,  the  hammer  fell  fi'om 
the  hand,  workroom  and  college  hall  were  alike 
deserted — a  half-million  men  laid  down  their 
lives  upon  many  a  battle-field.  Similarly, 
the  honor  given  to  Washington  during  these 
last  few  days  tells  us  that  the  patriot  who  gives 
shall  receive.  From  the  day  when  the  3'^oung 
Virginian  entered  the  Indian  foixsts  with  Brad- 
dock  to  the  day  when  he  lay  dying  at  Mount 
Vernon  the  patriot  gave  his  health,  his  wealth, 
his    time,   his  life,    a  living    sacrifice    through 

55 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

eight  and  forty  years.  Now  every  year  the 
people,  rising  up  early  and  sitting  up  late,  re- 
hearse to  their  children  the  story  of  his  life  and 
work.  Having  given  himself,  honor  shall. he 
receive  through  all  the  ages. 

To  Abraham  Lincoln  also  came  the  word: 
«'  Give  and  thou  shalt  receive!"  Sitting  in  the 
White  House  the  President  proclaimed  equal 
rights  to  black  and  white.  Then,  with  shouts 
of  joy,  three  million  slaves  entered  the  temple 
of  liberty.  But  they  bore  the  emancipator 
upon  their  shoulders  and  enshrined  him  for- 
ever in  the  temple  of  fame,  where  he  who  gave 
bountifully  shall  receive  bountiful  honor 
through  all  the  ages.  There,  too,  in  the  far- 
off  past  stands  an  uplifted  cross.  Flinging 
wide  his  arms  this  crowned  sufferer  sought  to 
lift  the  world  back  to  his  Father's  side.  In 
life  he  gave  his  testimony  against  hypocrisy, 
Phariseeism  and  cruelty.  For  years  he  gave 
himself  to  the  publican,  the  sinner,  the  prodi- 
gal, the  poor  in  mind  or  heart,  and  so  came  at 
length  to  his  pitiless  execution.  But,  having 
given  himself  in  abandon  of  love,  the  world 
straightway  gave  itself  in  return.  Every  one 
of  his  twelve  disciples  determined  to  achieve  a 
violent  death  for  the  Christ  who  gave  himself 
for  them.  Paul  was  beheaded  in  Rome.  John 
was  tortured  in  Patmos.      Andrew  and  James 

56 


The  Investment  of  Talent. 

were  crucified  in  Asia.  The  rest  were  mobbed, 
or  stoned,  or  tortured  to  death.  And  as  years 
sped  on  man  kept  giving.  Multitudes  went 
forth,  burning  for  him  in  the  tropics, 
freezing  for  him  in  the  arctics,  threading  for 
him  the  forest  paths,  braving  for  him  the 
swamps,  that  they  might  serve  his  little  ones. 
He  gave  himself  for  the  world,  and  the  world, 
in  a  passion  of  love,  will  yet  give  itself  back  to 
him. 

Recently  the  officials  of  the  commonwealth 
of  Massachusetts  and  the  noblest  citizens  of 
Boston  assembled  for  celebrating  the  one  hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  the  birth  of  George 
Peabody.  For  a  like  purpose  the  citizens  of 
London  came  together  in  banquet  hall.  Now, 
the  banker  had  long  been  dead.  Nor  did  he 
leave  children  to  keep  his  name  before  the 
public.  How  shall  we  account  for  two  conti- 
nents giving  him  such  praise  and  fame? 
George  Peabody  received  from  his  fellows, 
because  he  first  gave  to  his  fellows.  To  his 
genius  for  accumulation  he  added  the  genius  of 
distribution.  His  large  gifts  to  Harvard  and 
Yale,  to  Salem  and  Peabody,  made  to  science 
and  art  as  well  as  to  philanthropy  and  religion, 
secured  perpetual  remembrance.  When  the 
public  credit  of  the  State  of  Maryland  was  en- 
dangered, he  negotiated  $8,000,000  in  London 

57 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

and  gave  his  entire  commission  of  $200,000 
back  to  the  State.  He  who  gave  $3,500,000 
for  founding  schools  and  colleges  in  the  South 
for  black  and  white,  could  not  but  receive  honor 
and  praise.  Therefore  the  eulogies  pronounced 
by  the  legislators  in  Annapolis.  As  a  banker  in 
London  he  was  disturbed  by  the  sorrows  of 
the  poor,  and  for  months  gave  himself  to  an 
investigation  of  the  tenement-house  system, 
developing  the  Peabody  Tenements,  to  which 
he  gave  $2,500,000,  and  helped  20,000  people 
to  remove  from  dens  into  buildings  that  were 
light  and  sweet  and  wholesome.  Therefore 
when  he  died  in  London  the  English  nation 
that  had  received  from  him  gave  to  him,  and, 
for  the  first  time  in  history,  the  gates  of  West- 
minister Abbey  were  thrown  open  for  the 
funeral  services  of  a  foreigner.  Therefore,  the 
Prime  Minister  of  England  selected  the  swift- 
est frigate  in  the  English  navy  for  carrying 
his  body  back  to  his  native  land.  His  gen- 
erosity radiated  in  every  direction,  not  in 
trickling  rivulets,  but  in  copious  streams. 
Bountifully  he  gave  to  men;  therefore,  through 
innumerable  orations,  sermons,  editorials  and 
toasts,  men  vied  with  each  other  in  giving 
praise  and  honor  back  to  Peabody,  the  bene- 
factor of  the  people. 

Society,   always    sensitive  to  generosity,   is 

58 


The  Investment  of  Talent. 

equally  sensitive  to  selfishness.  He  who 
treats  his  fellows  as  so  many  clusters  to  be 
squeezed  into  his  cup,  who  spoils  the  world  for 
self  aggrandizement,  finds  at  last  that  he  has 
burglarized  his  own  soul.  Here  is  a  man  who 
says:  "Come  right,  come  wrong,  I  will  get 
gain."  Loving  ease,  he  lashes  himself  to 
unceasing  toil  by  day  and  night.  Needing  rest 
on  Sunday,  he  denies  himself  respite  and 
scourges  his  jaded  body  and  brain  into  new 
activities.  Every  thought  is  a  thread  to  be 
woven  into  a  golden  net.  He  lifts  his  life  to 
strike  as  miners  lift  their  picks.  He  swings 
his  body  as  harvesters  their  scythes.  He  will 
make  himself  an  augur  for  boring,  a  chisel  for 
drilling,  a  muck-rake  for  scratching,  if  only  he 
may  get  gain.  He  will  sweat  and  swelter  and 
burn  in  the  tropics  until  malaria  has  made  his 
face  as  yellow  as  gold,  if  thereby  he  can  fill  his 
purse,  and  for  a  like  end  he  will  shiver  and 
ache  in  the  arctics.  He  will  deny  his  ear  music, 
he  will  deny  his  mind  culture,  he  will  deny  his 
heart  friendship  that  he  may  coin  concerts  and 
social  delights  into  cash.  At  length  the  short- 
ness of  breath  startles  him;  the  stoppage  of 
blood  alarms  him.  Then  he  retires  to  receive — 
what?  To  receive  from  nature  that  which  he 
has  given  to  nature.  Once  he  denied  his  ear 
melody,  and  now  taste  in   return  denies  him 

59 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

pleasure.  Once  he  denied  his  mind  books,  and 
now  books  refuse  to  give  him  comfort.  Once 
he  denied  himself  friendship,  and  now  men 
refuse  him  their  love.  Having  received  noth- 
ing from  him,  the  great  world  has  no  invest- 
ment to  return  to  him.  Such  a  life,  entering 
the  harbor  of  old  age,  is  like  unto  a  bestormed 
ship  with  empty  coal  bins,  whose  crew  fed  the 
furnace,  first  with  the  cargo  and  then  with  the 
furniture,  and  reached  the  harbor,  having 
made  the  ship  a  burned-out  shell.  God  buries 
the  souls  of  many  men  long  years  before  their 
bodies  are  carried  to  the  graveyard. 

This  principle  tells  us  why  nature  and  so- 
ciety are  so  prodigal  with  treasures  to  some 
men  and  so  niggardly  to  othei's.  What  a  dif- 
ferent thing  a  forest  is  to  different  men!  He 
who  gives  the  ax  receives  a  mast.  He  who 
gives  taste  receives  a  picture.  He  who  gives 
imagination  receives  a  poem.  He  who  gives 
faith  hears  the  "goings  of  God  in  the  tree- 
tops."  The  charcoal-burner  fronts  an  oak  for 
finding  out  how  many  cords  of  wood  are  in  it, 
as  the  Goths  of  old  fronted  peerless  temples 
for  estimating  how  many  huts  they  could 
quarry  from  the  stately  pile.  But  an  artist 
curses  the  woodsman  for  making  the  tree  food 
for  ax  and  saw.  It  has  become  to  him  as  sacred 
as  the  cathedral  within  which  he  bares  his  head. 

60 


The  Investment  of  Talent. 

It  is  a  temple  where  birds  praise  God.  It  is  a 
harp  with  endless  music  for  the  summer  winds. 
It  fills  his  eye  with  beauty  and  his  ear  with 
rustling  melodies. 

For  the  poet  that  selfsame  oak  is  enshrined 
in  a  thousand  noble  associations.  It  sings  for 
him  like  a  hymn;  it  shines  like  a  vision;  it  sug- 
gests ships,  storms  and  ocean  battles;  the  spear 
of  Launcelot;  the  forests  of  Arden;  old  baronial 
halls  mellow  with  lights  falling  on  oaken  floors; 
King  Arthur's  banqueting  chamber.  To  the 
scientist's  thought  the  oak  is  a  vital  mechan- 
ism. By  day  and  by  night,  the  long  summer 
through,  it  lifts  tons  of  moisture  and  forces 
it  into  the  wide-spreading  branches,  but 
without  the  rattle  of  huge  engines.  With 
what  uproar  and  clang  of  iron  hammers  would 
stones  be  crushed  that  are  dissolved  noiselessly 
by  the  rootlets  and  recomposed  in  stems  and 
boughs!  What  a  vast  laboratory  is  here,  every 
root  and  leaf  an  expert  chemist! 

For  other  multitudes  the  earth  has  become 
only  a  huge  stable;  its  fruit  fodder;  its  granaries 
ricks,  out  of  which  men-cattle  feed.  These  esti- 
mate a  rnan's  value  according  as  he  has  lifted  his 
ax  upon  tall  trees  and  ravaged  all  the  loveliness 
of  creation ;  whose  curse  is  the  Nebuchadnezzar 
curse,  giving  to  nature  the  tongue  and  hand, 
and   receiving    from    nature   grass;    who   are 

6i 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

doomed  to  love  the  corn  they  grind,  to  hear 
only  the  I'oar  of  the  whirlwind  and  the  crash  of 
the  hail,  never  "the  still  small  voice;"  who  see 
what  is  written  in  lamp-black  and  lightning; 
who  think  the  clouds  are  for  rain,  and  know 
not  that  they  are  chariots,  thrones  and  celestial 
highways;  that  the  sunset  means  something 
else  than  sleep,  and  the  morning  suggests 
something  other  than  work.  All  these  give 
nature  only  thought  for  food,  and  food  only 
shall  they  receive  from  nature,  until  all  their 
deeds  are  plowed  down  in  dust.  Give  forth 
thy  gift,  young  men  and  maidens,  and  accord- 
ing as  thou  givest  thou  shalt  receive  fruit,  or 
picture,  or  poem,  or  temple,  or  ladder  let 
down  from  heaven,  or  angel  aspirations 
going  up. 

Conscience  also  receives  its  gifts  and  makes 
a  return.  Give  thy  body  obedience  and  it  will 
return  happiness  and  health.  Give  overdrafts 
and  excesses  and  it  will  return  sleepless  nights 
and  suffering  days.  Man's  sins  are  seeds,  his 
sufferings  harvests.  Every  action  is  embry- 
onic, and  according  as  it  is  right  or  wrong  will 
ripen  into  sweet  fruits  of  pleasure  or  poison 
fruits  of  pain.  Some  seeds  hold  two  germs; 
and  vice  and  penalty  are  wrapped  up  under  one 
covering.  Sins  are  self-registering  and  pen- 
alties  are   automatic.       The   brain     keeps    a 

62 


The  Investment  of  Talent. 

double  set  of  books,  and  at  last  visits  its  pun- 
ishments. Conscience  does  not  wait  for  so- 
ciety to  ferret  out  iniquity,  but  daily  executes 
judgment.  Policemen  may  slumber  and  the 
judge  may  nod,  but  the  nerves  are  always 
active,  memory  never  sleeps,  conscience  is 
never  off  duty.  The  recoil  of  the  gun  bruises 
black  the  shoulder  of  him  who  holds  it,  and 
sin  is  a  weapon  that  kills  at  both  ends. 

In  the  olden  days,  when  the  poisoner  was  in 
every  palace,  the  Doge  of  Venice  offered  a  re- 
ward for  a  crystal  goblet  that  would  break  the 
moment  a  poison  touched  it.  Pei'haps  the  idea 
was  suggested  to  the  Prince  because  his  soul 
already  fulfilled  the  thought,  for  one  drop  of 
sin  always  shatters  the  cup  of  joy  and  wastes 
life's  precious  wine.  How  do  events  interpret 
this  principle!  One  day  Louis,  King  of 
France,  was  riding  in  the  forest  near  his  gor- 
geous and  guilty  palace  of  Versailles.  He 
met  a  peasant  carrying  a  coffin.  "  What  did 
the  man  die  of?"  asked  the  King.  "Of  hun- 
ger," answered  the  peasant.  But  the  sound  of 
the  hunt  was  in  the  King's  ear,  and  he  forgot 
the  cry  of  want.  Soon  the  day  came  when 
the  King  stood  before  the  guillotine,  and 
with  mute  appeals  for  mercy  fronted  a  mob 
silent  as  statues,  unyielding  as  stone,  grimly 
waiting  to  dip  the  ends  of  their  pikes  in  regal 

63 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

blood.  He  gave  cold  looks;  he  received  cold 
steel. 

Marie  Antoinette,  riding  to  Notre  Dame 
for  her  bridal,  bade  her  soldiers  command 
all  beggars,  cripples  and  ragged  people  to 
leave  the  line  of  the  procession.  The  Queen 
could  not  endure  for  a  brief  moment  the  sight 
of  those  miserable  ones  doomed  to  unceasing 
squalor  and  poverty.  What  she  gave  others 
she  received  herself,  for  soon,  bound  in  an  ex- 
ecutioner's cart,  she  was  riding  toward  the 
place  of  execution  midst  crowds  who  gazed 
upon  her  with  hearts  as  cold  as  ice  and  hard 
as  granite.  "When  Foulon  was  asked  how  the 
starving  populace  was  to  live  he  answered: 
"Let  them  eat  gi-ass."  Afterward,  Carlyle 
says,  the  mob,  maddened  with  rage,  "caught 
him  in  the  streets  of  Paris,  hanged  him,  stuck 
his  head  upon  a  pike,  filled  his  mouth  with 
grass,  amid  shouts  as  of  Tophet  from  a  grass- 
eating  people."  "What kings  and  princes  gave 
they  received.  This  is  the  voice  of  nature  and 
conscience:  "Behold,  sin  crouches  at  the 
door!" 

This  divine  principle  also  explains  man's 
attitude  toward  his  fellows.  The  proverb 
says  man  makes  his  own  world.  Each 
sees  what  is  in  himf^elf,  not  what  is  out- 
side.      The  jaundiced  eye   yellows  all  it   be- 

64 


The  Investment  of  Talent. 

holds.  The  chameleon  takes  its  color  from 
the  bark  on  which  it  clings.  Man  gives  his 
color  to  what  his  thought  is  fastened  upon. 
The  pessimist's  darkness  makes  all  things 
dingy.  The  youth  disappointed  with  his  Euro- 
pean trip  said  he  was  a  fool  for  going.  He 
was,  for  the  reason  that  he  was  a  fool  before  he 
started.  He  saw  nothing  without,  because  he 
had  no  vision  within.  He  gave  no  sight,  he 
received  to  vision.  An  artist  sees  in  each 
Madonna  that  which  compels  a  rude  mob  to 
uncover  in  prayer,  but  the  savage  perceives 
only  a  colored  canvas.  Recently  a  foreign 
traveler,  writing  of  his  impressions  of  our  city, 
described  it  to  his  fellows  as  a  veritable  hades. 
But  his  fellow  countryman,  in  a  similar  vol- 
ume, recorded  his  impressions  of  our  art,  arch- 
itecture and  interest  in  education.  Each  saw 
that  for  which  he  looked. 

This  principle  explains  man's  attitude 
toward  his  God.  God  governs  rocks  by 
force,  animals  by  fear,  savage  man  by  force 
and  fear,  true  men  by  hope  and  love.  Man 
can  take  God  at  whatsoever  level  he  pleases. 
He  who  by  beastliness  turns  his  body  into 
a  log  will  be  held  by  gravity  in  one  spot 
like  a  log.  He  who  lives  on  a  level  with  the 
animals  will  receive  fear  and  law  and  light- 
nings.    He  who  approaches  God  through  laws 

65 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

of  light  and  heat  and  electricity  will  find  the 
world-throne  occupied  by  an  infinite  Agassiz. 
Some  approach  God  through  physical  senses. 
They  behold  his  storms  sinking  ships,  his  tor- 
nadoes mowing  down  forests.  These  find  him 
a  huge  Hercules;  yet  the  Judge  who  seems 
cruel  to  the  wicked  criminal  may  seem  the 
embodiment  of  gentleness  and  kindness  to  his 
obedient  children.  Man  determines  what  God 
shall  be  to  him.  Each  paints  his  own  picture 
of  Deity.  Macbeth  sees  him  with  forked  light- 
nings without  and  volcanic  fires  within.  The 
pure  in  heart  see  him  as  the  face  of  all-clasping 
Love.  Give  him  thy  heart  and  he  will  give  thee 
love,  effulgent  love,  like  the  affection  of  mother 
or  lover  or  friend,  only  dearer  than  either. 
Give  him  thy  ways,  and  he  will  overarch  life's 
path  as  the  heavens  overarch  the  flowers,  fill- 
ing them  with  heat  by  day  and  yielding  cool- 
ing dews  by  night.  Give  him  but  a  flickering 
aspiration  and  he  will  give  thee  balm  for  the 
bruised  reed  and  flame  for  the  smoking  flax. 
Give  him  the  publican's  prayer  and  he  will  give 
thee  mercy  like  the  wideness  of  the  sea.  Give 
his  little  ones  but  a  cup  of  cold  water  and  he 
will  give  thee  to  drink  of  the  water  of  the  river 
of  life  and  bring  thee  to  the  banquet  hall  in 
the  house  of  many  mansions. 


66 


Vicarious  Lives  as  Instruments  of 
Social  Progress. 


"Only  he  that  uses  shall  even  so  much  as  keep.  Unem- 
ployed strength  steadily  diminishes.  The  sluggard's  arm  grows 
soft  and  flabby.  So,  even  in  this  lowest  sphere,  the  law  is  in- 
exorable. Having  is  using.  Not  using  is  losing.  Idleness  is  par- 
alysis. New  triumphs  must  only  dictate  new  struggles.  If  it  be 
Alexander  of  Macedon,  the  Orontes  must  suggest  the  Euphrates, 
and  the  Euphrates  the  Indus.  Always  it  must  be  on  and  on. 
One  night  of  rioting  in  Babylon  may  arrest  the  conquering  march. 
Genius  is  essentially  athletic,  resolute,  aggressive,  persistent.  Pos- 
session is  grip,  that  tightens  more  and  more.  Ceasing  to  gain,  we 
begin  to  lose.  Ceasing  to  advance,  we  begin  to  retrograde.  Brief 
was  the  interval  between  Roman  conquest  of  Barbarians,  and  Bar- 
barian conquest  of  Rome.  Blessed  is  the  man  who  keeps  out  of 
the  hospital  and  holds  his  place  in  the  ranks.  Blessed  the  man, 
the  last  twang  of  whose  bow-string  is  as  sh.irp  as  any  that  went 
before,  sending  its  arrow  as  surely  to  the  mark." — Rosivell  W. 
Hitchcock. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

Vicarious  Lives  as  Instruments  of 
Social  Progress. 

The  eleventh  chapter  of  Hebrews  has  been 
called  the  picture-gallei-y  of  heroes.  These 
patriots  and  martyrs  who  won  our  first 
battles  for  liberty  and  religion  made  noble- 
ness epidemic.  Oft  stoned  and  mobbed  in 
the  cities  they  founded  and  loved,  they  fled 
into  exile,  where  they  wandered  in  deserts  and 
mountains  and  caves  and  slept  in  the  holes  of 
the  earth.  Falling  at  last  in  the  wilderness, 
it  may  be  said  that  no  man  knoweth  their  sep. 
ulcher  and  none  their  names.  But  joyfully  let 
us  confess  that  the  institutions  most  eminent 
and  excellent  in  our  day  represent  the  very 
principles  for  which  these  martyrs  died  and, 
dying,  conquered.  For  these  heroes  were  the 
first  to  dare  earth's  despots.  They  won  the 
first  victory  over  every  form  of  vice  and  sin. 
They  wove  the  first  threads  of  the  flag  of  lib- 
erty and  made  it  indeed  the  banner  of  the 
morning,  for  they  dyod  it  crimson  in  their 
heart's-blood.  In  all  the  history  of  freedom 
thei'e  is  no  chapter  comparable  for  a  moment 
to  the  glorious  achievements  of  these  men  of 

69 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

oak  and  rock.  Their  deeds  shine  on  the  pages 
of  history  like  stars  blazing  in  the  night  and 
their  achievements  have  long  been  celebrated 
in  song  and  story.  "Theangels  of  martyrdom 
and  victory,"  says  Mazzini,  "are  brothers; 
both  extend  protecting  wings  over  the  cradle 
of  the   future  life." 

Sometimes  it  has  happened  that  the  brave  deed 
of  a  single  patriot  has  rallied  wavering  hosts, 
flashed  the  lightning  through  the  centuries,  and 
kindled  whole  nations  into  a  holy  enthusiasm. 
The  opposing  legions  of  soldiers  and  inquisitors 
went  down  before  the  heroism  of  the  early 
church  as  darkness  flees  before  the  advancing 
sunshine.  Society  admires  the  scholar,  but 
man  loves  the  hero.  Wisdom  shines,  but 
bravery  inspires  and  lifts.  Though  centuries 
have  passed,  these  noble  deeds  still  nourish 
man's  bravery  and  endurance.  It  was  not 
given  to  these  leaders  to  enter  into  the  fruits 
of  their  labors.  Vicariously  they  died.  With 
a  few  exceptions,  their  very  names  remain  un- 
known. But  let  us  hasten  to  confess  that 
their  vicarious  suffering  stayed  the  onset  of 
despotism  and  achieved  our  liberty.  They 
ransomed  us  from  serfdom  and  bought  our 
liberty  with  a  great  price.  Compared  to 
those,  our  bravest  deeds  do  seem  but  bram- 
bles to  the  oaks  at  whose  feet  they  grow. 

70 


Vicarious  Lives. 

Having  made  much  of  the  principles  of  the 
solidarity  of  society,  science  is  now  engaged  in 
emphasizing  the  principle  of  vicarious  service 
and  suffering.  The  consecrated  blood  of  yes- 
terday is  seen  to  be  the  social  and  spiritual 
capital  of  to-day.  Indeed,  the  civil,  intellect- 
ual and  religious  freedom  and  hope  of  our  age 
are  only  the  moral  coui'age  and  suffering  of 
past  ages,  I'eappearing  under  new  and  re- 
splendent forms.  The  social  vines  that  shelter 
us,  the  civic  bough  whose  clusters  feed  us,  all 
spring  out  of  ancient  graves.  The  red  cur- 
rents of  sacrifice  and  the  tides  of  the  heart 
have  nourished  these  social  growths  and  made 
their  blossoms  crimson  and  brilliant.  Nor 
could  these  treasures  have  been  gained  other- 
wise. Nature  grants  no  free  favors.  Every 
wise  law,  institution  and  custom  must  be  paid 
for  with  corresponding  treasure.  Thought 
itself  takes  toll  from  the  brain.  To  be  loved  is 
good,  indeed;  but  love  must  be  paid  for  with 
toil,  endurance,  sacrifice — fuel  that  feeds  love's 
flame. 

Generous  giving  to-day  is  a  great  joy;  but 
it  is  made  possible  only  by  years  of  thrift 
and  economy.  The  wine  costs  the  clusters. 
The  linen  costs  the  flax.  The  furniture  costs 
the  forests.  The  heat  in  the  house  costs  the 
coal  in  the  cellar.     Wealth  costs  much  toil  and 

71 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

sweat  by  day.  Wisdom  costs  much  study  and 
long  vigils  by  night.  Leadership  costs  instant 
and  untiring  pains  and  service.  Character 
costs  the  long,  fierce  conflict  with  vice  and 
sin.  When  Keais,  walking  in  the  rose  garden, 
saw  the  ground  under  the  bushes  all  covered 
with  pink  petals,  he  exclaimed;  "Next  year 
the  roses  should  be  very  red!"  When  ^Eneas 
tore  the  bough  from  the  myrtle  tree,  Virgil 
says  the  tree  exuded  blood.  But  this  is  only 
a  poet's  way  of  saying  that  civilization  is  a 
tree  that  is  nourished,  not  by  rain  and  snow, 
but  by  the  tears  and  blood  of  the  patriots  and 
prophets  of  yesterday. 

Fortunately,  in  manifold  ways,  nature  and 
life  witness  to  the  universality  of  vicarious 
service  and  suffering.  Indeed,  the  very  basis 
of  the  doctrine  of  evolution  is  the  fact  that  the 
life  of  the  higher  rests  upon  the  death  of  the 
lower.  The  astronomers  tell  us  that  the  sun 
ripens  our  harvests  by  burning  itself  up.  Each 
golden  sheaf,  each  orange  bough,  each  bunch 
of  fiffs,  costs  the  sun  thousands  of  tons  of  car- 
bon.  Geike,  the  geologist,  shows  us  that  the 
valleys  grow  rich  and  deep  with  soil  through 
the  mountains,  growing  bare  and  being  denuded 
of  their  treasure.  Beholding  the  valleys  of 
France  and  the  plains  of  Italy  all  gilded  with 
corn  and  fragrant  with  deep  grass,  where  the 

72 


Vicarious  Lives. 

violets  and  buttercups  wave  and  toss  in  the 
summer  wind,  travelers  often  forget  that  the 
beauty  of  the  plains  was  bought,  at  a  great 
price,  by  the  bareness  of  the  mountains.  For 
these  mountains  are  in  reality  vast  compost 
heaps,  nature's  stores  of  powerful  stimulants. 
Daily  the  heat  swells  the  flakes  of  granite; 
daily  the  frost  splits  them;  daily  the  rains  dis- 
solve the  crushed  stone  into  an  impalpable 
dust;  daily  the  floods  sweep  the  rich  mineral 
foods  down  into  the  starving  valleys.  Thus  the 
glory  of  the  mountains  is  not  alone  their 
majesty'  of  endurance,  but  also  their  patient, 
passionate  beneficence  as  they  pour  forth  all 
their  treasures  to  feed  richness  to  the  pastures, 
to  wreathe  with  beauty  each  distant  vale  and 
glen,  to  noui'ish  all  waving  harvest  fields. 
This  death  of  the  mineual  is  the  life  of  the  veg- 
etable. 

If  now  we  descend  from  the  mountains  to  ex- 
plore the  secrets  of  the  sea,  Maury  and  Guyot 
show  us  the  isles  where  palm  trees  wave  and 
man  builds  his  homes  and  cities  midst  rich 
tropic  fruits.  There  scientists  find  that  the 
coral  islands  were  reared  above  the  waves 
by  myriads  of  living  creatures  that  died  vica- 
riously that  man  might  live.  And  everywhere 
nature  exhibits  the  same  sacrificial  principle. 
Our  treasures  of  coal  mean   that  vast  forests 

13 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

have  risen  and  fallen  again  for  our  factories 
and  furnaces.  Nobody  is  richer  until  some- 
body is  poorer.  Evermore  the  vicarious  ex- 
change is  going  on.  The  rock  decays  and 
feeds  the  moss  and  lichen.  The  moss  decays  to 
feed  the  shrub.  The  shrub  perishes  that  the 
tree  may  have  food  and  growth.  The  leaves  of 
the  tree  fall  that  its  boughs  may  blossom  and 
bear  fruit.  The  seeds  ripen  to  serve  the  birds 
singing  in  all  the  boughs.  The  fruit  falls  to 
be  food  for  man.  The  harvests  lend  man 
strength  for  his  commerce,  his  government,  his 
culture  and  conscience.  The  lower  dies  vicari- 
ously that  the  higher  may  live.  Thus  nature 
achieves  her  gifts  only  through  vast  expend- 
itures. 

It  is  said  that  each  of  the  new  guns  for 
the  navy  costs  $100,000.  But  the  gun  sur- 
vives only  a  hundred  explosions,  so  that  every 
shot  costs  $1,000.  Tyndall  tells  us  that  each 
.drop  of  water  sheathes  electric  power  suffi- 
cient to  charge  100,000  Leyden  jars  and  blow 
the  Houses  of  Parliament  to  atoms.  Farraday 
amazes  us  by  his  statement  of  the  energy  re- 
quired to  embroider  a  violet  or  produce  a 
strawberry.  To  untwist  the  sunbeam  and  ex- 
tract the  rich  strawberry  red,  to  refine  the 
sugar,  and  mix  its  flavor,  represents  heat  suf- 
ficient to  run  an  engine  from  Liverpool  to  Lou- 

74 


Vicarious  Lives. 

don  or  from  Chicago  to  Detroit.  But  be- 
cause nature  does  her  work  noiselessly  we  must 
not  forget  that  each  of  her  gifts  also  involves 
tremendous  expenditure. 

This  law  of  vicarious  service  holds  equally  in 
the  intellectual  world.  The  author  buys  his 
poem  or  song  with  his  life-blood.  While  trav- 
eling north  from  London  midst  a  heavy  snow- 
storm, Lord  Bacon  descended  from  his  coach  to 
stuff  a  fowl  with  snow  to  determine  whether  or 
not  ice  would  preserve  flesh.  With  his  life 
the  philosopher  purchased  for  us  the  prin- 
ciple that  does  so  much  to  preserve  our  fruits 
and  foods  through  the  summer's  heat  and  lend 
us  happiness  and  comfort.  And  Pascal,  whose 
thoughts  are  the  seeds  that  have  sown  many 
a  mental  life  with  hai'vests,  bought  his  splendid 
ideas  by  burning  up  his  brain.  The  professors 
who  guided  and  loved  him  knew  that  the  boy 
would  soon  be  gone,  just  as  those  v^^ho  light  a 
candle  in  the  evening  know  that  the  light, 
burning  fast,  will  soon  flicker  out  in  the  deep 
socket.  One  of  our  scientists  foretells  the  time 
when,  by  the  higher  mathematics,  it  will  be 
possible  to  compute  how  many  brain  cells  must 
be  torn  down  to  earn  a  given  sum  of  money; 
how  much  vital  force  each  Sir  William  Jones 
must  give  in  exchange  for  one  of  his  forty  lan- 
guages  and  dialects;  what  percentage  of  the 

75 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

original  vital  force  will  be  consumed  in  ex- 
periencing each  new  pleasure,  or  surmounting 
each  new  pain;  how  much  nerve  treasure  it 
takes  to  conquer  each  temptation  or  endure 
each  self-sacrifice.  Too  often  society  forgets 
that  the  song,  law  or  reform  has  cost  the  health 
and  life  of  the  giver.  Tradition  says  that, 
through  much  study,  the  Iliad  cost  Homer  his 
eyes.  There  is  strange  meaning  in  the  fact  that 
Dante's  face  was  plowed  deep  with  study  and 
suffering  and  written  all  over  with  the  litera- 
ture of  sorrow. 

To  gain  his  vision  of  the  hills  of  Paradise, 
Milton  lost  his  vision  of  earth's  beaute- 
ous sights  and  scenes.  In  explanation  of  the 
early  death  of  Raphael  and  Burns,  Keats 
and  Shelley,  it  has  been  said  that  few  great 
men  who  are  poor  have  lived  to  see  forty. 
They  bought  their  greatness  with  life  itself. 
A  few  short  years  ago  there  lived  in  a  western 
state  a  boy  who  came  up  to  his  young  man- 
hood with  a  great,  deep  passion  for  the  plants 
and  shrubs.  While  other  boys  loved  the  din 
and  bustle  of  the  city,  or  lingered  long  in  the 
library,  or  turned  eager  feet  toward  the  forum, 
this  youth  plunged  into  the  fields  and  forests, 
and  with  a  lover's  passion  for  his  noble  mis- 
tress gave  himself  to  roots  and  seeds  and 
flowers.       While    he    was    still   a    child    he 

76 


Vicarious  Lives. 

would  tell  oa  what  day  in  Mai'ch  the  first  vio- 
let bloomed;  when  the  first  snowdrop  came, 
and,  going  back  through  his  years,  could  tell 
the  very  day  in  spring  when  the  first  robin 
sang  near  his  window.  Soon  the  boy's  col- 
lection of  plants  appealed  to  the  wonder  of 
scholars.  A  little  later  students  from  foreign 
countries  began  to  send  him  strange  flowers 
from  Japan  and  seeds  from  India.  One  mid- 
night while  he  was  lingering  o'er  his  books, 
suddenly  the  white  page  before  him  was  as  red 
with  his  life-blood  as  the  rose  that  lay  beside 
his  hand.  And  when,  after  two  years  in  Colo- 
rado, friends  bore  his  body  up  the  side  of  the 
mountains  he  so  dearly  loved,  no  scholar  in  all 
our  land  left  so  full  a  collection  and  exposition 
of  the  flowers  of  that  distant  state  as  did  this 
dying  boy.  His  study  and  wisdom  made  all  to 
be  his  debtors.  But  he  bought  his  wisdom 
with  thirty  years  of  health  and  happiness.  We 
are  rich  only  because  the  young  scholar,  with 
his  glorious  future,  for  our  sakes  made  himself 
poor. 

Our  social  treasure  also  is  the  result  of 
vicarious  service  and  suffering.  Sailing  along 
the  New  England  coasts,  one  man's  ci'aft 
strikes  a  rock  and  goes  to  the  bottom.  But 
wher.e  his  boat  sank  there  the  state  lifts  a 
danger  signal,  and  henceforth,   avoiding  that 

77 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

rock,  whole  fleets  are  saved.  One  traveler 
makes  his  way  through  the  forest  and  is  lost. 
Afterward  other  pilgrims  avoid  that  way. 
Experimenting  with  the  strange  root  or  acid 
or  chemical,  the  scholar  is  poisoned  and  dies. 
Taught  by  his  agonies,  others  learn  to  avoid 
that  danger. 

Only  a  few  centuries  ago  the  liberty  of 
thought  was  unknown.  All  lips  were  pad- 
locked. The  public  criticism  of  a  baron  meant 
the  confiscation  of  the  peasant's  land;  the 
criticism  of  the  pope  meant  the  dungeon;  the 
criticism  of  the  king  meant  death.  Now  all 
are  free  to  think  for  themselves,  to  sift  all 
knowledge  and  public  teachings,  to  cast  away 
the  chaff  and  to  save  the  pi'ecious  wheat.  But 
to  buy  this  freedom  blood  has  flowed  like  riv- 
ers and  tears  have  been  too  cheap  to  count. 

To  achieve  these  two  principles, called  liberty 
of  thought  and  liberty  of  speech,  some  four 
thousand  battles  have  been  fought.  In  ex- 
change, therefore,  for  one  of  these  principles  of 
freedom  and  happiness,  society  has  paid  —  not 
cash  down,  but  blood  down;  vital  treasure  for 
staining  two  thousand  battle-fields.  To-day  the 
serf  has  entered  into  citizenship  and  the  slave 
into  freedom,  but  the  pathway  along  which 
the  slave  and  serf  have  moved  has  been  over 
chasms  filled  with  the  bodies  of  patriots  and 

78 


Vicarious  Lives. 

hills  that  have  been  leveled  by  heroes'  hands. 
Why  are  the  travelers  through  the  forests  dry 
and  warm  midst  falling  rains?  Why  are  sail- 
ors upon  all  seas  comfortable  under  their  rub- 
ber coats?  Warm  are  they  and  dry  midst  all 
storms,  because  for  twenty  years  Goodyear, 
the  discoverer  of  India  rubber,  was  cold  and 
wet  and  hungry,  and  at  last,  broken-hearted, 
died  midst  poverty. 

Why  is  Italy  cleansed  of  the  plagues  that 
devastated  her  cities  a  hundred  years  ago? 
Because  John  Howard  sailed  on  an  infected 
ship  fi'om  Constantinople  to  Venice,  that  he 
might  be  put  into  a  lazaretto  and  find  out  the 
clew  to  that  awful  mystery  of  the  plague  and 
stay  its  power.  How  has  it  come  that  the 
merchants  of  our  western  ports  send  ships 
laden  with  implemeiits  for  the  fields  and  con- 
veniences for  the  house  into  the  South  Sea 
Islands?  Because  such  men  as  Patteson,  the 
pure-hearted,  gallant  boy  of  Eton  College, 
gave  up  every  prospect  in  England  to  labor 
amid  the  Pacific  savages  and  twice  plunged 
into  the  waters  of  the  coral  reefs,  amid  sharks 
and  devil-fish  and  stinging  jellies,  to  escape 
the  flight  of  poisoned  arrows  of  which  the 
slightest  graze  meant  horinble  death,  and  in 
that  high  service  died  by  the  clubs  of  the  very 
savages  whom  he  had  often  risked  his  life  to 

79 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

save  —  the  memory  of  whose  life  did  so  smite 
the  consciences  of  his  murderers  that  they  laid 
"  the  young  martyr  in  an  open  boat,  to  float 
away  over  the  bright  blue  waves,  with  his 
hands  crossed,  as  if  in  prayer,  and  a  palm 
branch  on  his  breast."  And  there,  in  the 
white  light,  he  lies  now,  immortal  forever. 

And  why  did  the  representatives  of  five 
great  nations  come  together  to  destroy  the 
slave  trade  in  Africa,  and  from  every  coast 
come  the  columns  of  light  to  journey  toward 
the  heart  of  the  dark  continent  and  rim  all 
Africa  around  with  little  towns  and  villages 
that  glow  like  lighthouses  for  civilization?  Be- 
cause one  day  "Westminster  Abbey  was  crowded 
with  the  great  men  of  England,  in  the  midst 
of  whom  stood  two  black  men  who  had  brought 
Livingstone's  body  from  the  jungles  of  Africa. 
There,  in  the  great  Abbey,  faithful  Susi  told  of 
the  hero  who,  worn  thin  as  parchment  through 
thirty  attacks  of  the  African  fever,  refused 
Stanley's  overtures,  turned  back  toward  Ulala, 
made  his  ninth  attempt  to  discover  the  head- 
waters of  the  Nile  and  search  out  the  secret 
lairs  of  the  slave-dealers,  only  to  die  in  the 
forest,  with  no  white  man  near,  no  hand  of 
sister  or  son  to  cool  his  fevered  brow  or  close 
his  glazing  eyes.  Faithful  to  the  last  to  that 
which  had  been  the  great  work  of  his  life,  he 

80 


Vicarious  Lives. 

wrote  these  words  with  dying  hand:  "All  I 
can  add  in  my  solitude  is,  may  heaven's  rich 
blessings  come  down  on  every  one  who  would 
help  to  heal  this  open  sore  of  the  world  !" 
Why  was  it  that  in  the  ten  years  after 
Livingstone's  death,  Africa  made  greater 
advancement  than  in  the  previous  ten 
centuries?  All  the  world  knows  that  it 
was  through  the  vicarious  suffering  of  one 
of  Scotland's  noblest  heroes.  And  why  is  it 
that  Curtis  says  that  there  are  three  Ameri- 
can orations  that  will  live  In  history — Patrick 
Henry's  at  Williamsburg,  Abraham  Lincoln's 
at  Gettysburg  and  Wendell  Phillips'  at  Faneuil 
Hall?  A  thousand  martyrs  to  liberty  lent 
eloquence  to  Henry's  lips;  the  hills  of  Gettys- 
burg, all  billowy  with  our  noble  dead,  exhaled 
the  memories  that  anointed  Lincoln's  lips; 
while  Lovejoy's  spirit,  newly  martyred  at 
Alton,  poui^ed  over  Wendell  Phillips'  nature 
the  full  tides  of  speech  divine.  Vicarious  suf- 
fering explains  each  of  these  immortal  scenes. 
Long,  too,  the  scroll  of  humble  heroes  whose 
vicarious  services  have  exalted  our  common 
life.  Recognizing  this  principle,  Cicero  built 
a  monument  to  his  slave,  a  Greek,  who  daily 
read  aloud  to  his  master,  took  notes  of  his  con- 
versation, wrote  out  his  speeches  and  so  lent 
the    orator    increased    influence    and   power. 

8i 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

Scott  also  makes  one  of  his  chai'acters  bestow 
a  gift  upon  an  aged  servant.  For,  said  the 
warrior,  no  master  can  ever  fullj^  recompense 
the  nurse  who  cares  for  his  children,  or  the 
maid  who  supplies  their  wants.  To-day  each 
giant  of  the  industrial  realm  is  compassed 
about  with  a  small  ai'my  of  men  who  stand 
waiting  to  carry  out  his  slightest  behests,  re- 
lieve him  of  details,  halve  his  burdens,  while 
at  the  same  time  doubling  his  joys  and  re- 
wards. Lifted  up  in  the  sight  of  the  entire 
community  the  great  man  stands  on  a  lofty 
pedestal  builded  out  of  helpers  and  aids.  And 
though  here  and  now  the  honors  and  successes 
all  go  to  the  one  giant,  and  his  assistants  are 
seemingly  obscure  and  unrecognized,  hereafter 
and  there  honors  will  be  evenly  distributed, 
and  then  how  will  the  great  man's  position 
shrink  and  shrivel  ! 

Here  also  are  the  parents  who  loved  books 
and  hungered  for  beauty,  yet  in  youth  were 
denied  education  and  went  all  their  life 
through  concealing  a  secret  hunger  and  ambi- 
tion, but  who  determined  that  their  children 
should  never  want  for  education.  That  the 
boy,  therefore,  might  go  to  college,  these  par- 
ents rose  up  early  to  vex  the  soil  and  sat  up 
late  to  wear  their  fingers  thin,  denying  the 
eye  beauty,  denying  the  taste  and  imagination 

82 


Vicarious  Lives. 

their  food,  denying  the  appetite  its  pleasures. 
And  while  they  suffer  and  wane  the  boy  in  col- 
lege grows  wise  and  strong  and  waxing  great, 
comes  home  to  find  the  parents  overwrought 
with  service  and  ready  to  fall  on  death, 
having  offered  a  vicarious  sacrifice  of  love. 

And  here  are  our  own  ancestors.  Soon  our 
children  now  lying  in  the  cradles  of  our 
state  will  without  any  forethought  of  theirs 
fall  heir  to  this  rich  land  with  all  its 
treasures  material — houses  and  vineyards, 
factories  and  cities;  with  all  its  treasures 
mental  —  library  and  gallery,  school  and 
church,  institutions  and  customs.  But  with 
what  vicarious  suffering  were  these  treasures 
purchased  !  For  us  our  fathers  subdued  the 
continents  and  the  kingdoms,  wrought  free- 
dom, stopped  the  mouths  of  wolves,  escaped 
the  eword  of  savages,  turned  to  flight  armies 
of  enemies,  subdued  the  forests,  drained  the 
swamps,  planted  vineyards,  civilized  savages, 
reared  schoolhouses,  builded  churches,  founded 
colleges.  For  four  generations  they  dwelt  in 
cabins,  wore  sheepskins  and  goatskins,  wan- 
dered about  exploring  rivers  and  forests  and 
mines,  being  destitute,  affiicted,  tormented,  be- 
cause of  their  love  of  liberty,  and  for  the 
slave's  sake  were  slain  with  the  sword — of 
whom  this   generation   is  not  worthy.      "And 

83 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

these  all  died  not  having  received  the  prom- 
ise," God  having  reserved  that  for  us  to 
whom  it  has  been  given  to  fall  heir  to  the 
splendid  achievements  of  our  Christian  an- 
cestoi's. 

And  what  shall  we  more  say,  save  only  to 
mention  those  whose  early  death  as  well  as 
life  was  vicarious?  What  an  enigma  seems 
the  career  of  those  cut  off  while  yet  they  stand 
upon  life's  threshold  !  How  proud  they  made 
our  hearts,  standing  forth  all  clothed  with 
beauty,  health  and  splendid  promise  I  What  a 
waste  of  power,  what  a  robbery  of  love,  seemed 
their  early  death  !  But  slowly  it  has  dawned 
upon  us  that  the  footsteps  that  have  vanished 
walk  with  us  more  frequently  than  do  our 
nearest  friends.  And  the  sound  of  the  voice 
that  is  still  instructs  us  in  our  dreams  as  no 
living  voice  ever  can.  The  invisible  children 
and  friends  are  the  real  children.  Their 
memory  is  a  golden  cord  binding  us  to  God's 
thi'one,  and  drawing  us  upward  into  the  king- 
dom of  light.  Absent,  they  enrich  us  as  those 
present  cannot.  And  so  the  child  who  smiled 
upon  us  and  then  went  away,  the  son  and  the 
daughter  whose  talents  blossomed  here  to  bear 
fruit  above,  the  sweet  mother's  face,  the 
father's  gentle  spirit — their  going  it  was  that 
set   open    the  door   of    heaven    and   made  on 

84 


Vicarious  Lives. 

earth  a  new  world.  These  all  lived  vicariously 
for  us,  and  vicariously  they  died  ! 

No  deeply  reflective  nature,  therefore,  will 
be  surprised  that  the  vicarious  principle  is 
manifest  in  the  Savior  of  the  soul.  Rejecting 
all  commercial  theories,  all  judicial  exchanges, 
all  imputations  of  characters,  let  us  recognize 
the  universality  of  this  principle.  God  is  not 
at  warfare  with  himself.  If  he  uses  the  vicari- 
ous principle  in  the  realm  of  matter  he  will 
use  it  in  the  realm  of  mind  and  heart.  It  is 
given  unto  parents  to  bear  not  only  the  weak- 
ness of  the  child,  but  also  his  ignorance,  his 
sins — perhaps,  at  last,  his  very  crimes.  But 
nature  counts  it  unsafe  to  permit  any  wrong 
to  go  unpunished.  Nature  finds  it  dangerous 
to  allow  the  youth  to  sin  against  brain  or 
nerve  or  digestion  without  visiting  sharp  pen- 
alties upon  the  offender.  Fire  burns,  acids 
eat,  rocks  crush,  steam  scalds — always,  al- 
ways. Governments  also  find  it  unsafe  to 
blot  out  all  distinctions  between  the  honest 
citizen  and  the  vicious  criminal.  The  taking 
no  notice  of  sin  keeps  iniquity  in  good  spirits, 
belittles  the  sanctity  of  law  and  blurs  the  con- 
science. 

With  God  also  penalties  are  warnings.  His 
punishments  are  thorn  hedges,  safeguarding 
man  from  the  thorns  and  thickets  where  ser- 

85 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

pents  brood,  and  forcing  his  feet  back  into  the 
ways  of  wisdom  and  peace.  For  man's  in- 
tegrity and  happiness,  therefore,  conscience 
smites  and  is  smiting  unceasingly.  There- 
fore, Eugene  Aram  dared  not  trust  himself  out 
under  the  stars  at  night,  for  these  stars  were 
eyes  that  blazed  and  blazed  and  would  not  re- 
lent. But  why  did  not  the  murderer,  Eugene 
Aram,  forgive  himself?  When  Lady  Macbeth 
found  that  the  water  in  the  basin  would  not 
wash  off  the  red  spots,  but  would  "  the  multi- 
tudinous seas  incarnadine,"  why  did  not  Mac- 
beth and  his  wife  forgive  each  other?  Strange, 
passing  strange,  that  Shakespeare  thought 
volcanic  fires  within  and  forked  lightning  with- 
out were  but  the  symbols  of  the  storm  that 
breaks  upon  the  eternal  orb  of  each  man's  soul. 
If  David  cannot  forgive  himself,  if  Peter  can- 
not forgive  Judas,  who  can  forgive  sins?  "Per- 
haps the  gods  may,"  said  Plato  to  Socrates. 
"I  do  not  know,"  answered  the  philosopher, 
"I  do  not  know  that  it  would  be  safe  for 
the  gods  to  pardon."  So  the  poet  sends 
Macbeth  out  into  the  black  night  and  the 
blinding  storm  to  be  thrown  to  the  ground  by 
forces  that  twist  off  trees  and  hiss  among  the 
wounded  boughs  and  bleeding  branches. 

For  poor  Jean  Valjoan,  weeping  bitterly  for 
his  sins,  while  he  watched  the  boy  play  with 

86 


Vicarious  Lives. 

the  buttercups  and  prayed  that  God  would 
give  him,  the  red  and  horny-handed  criminal, 
to  feel  again  as  he  felt  when  he  pressed  his 
dewy  cheek  against  his  mother's  knee — for 
Jean  Valjean  is  there  no  suffei'ing  friend,  no 
forgiving  heart?  Is  there  no  bosom  where 
poor  Magdalene  can  sob  out  her  bitter  confes- 
sion? What  if  God  were  the  soul's  father! 
What  if  he  too  serves  and  suffers  vicariously  ! 
What  if  his  throne  is  not  marble  but  mercy  ! 
What  if  nature  and  life  do  but  interpret  in  the 
small  this  divine  principle  existing  in  the  large 
in  him  who  is  infinite !  W^hat  if  Calvary  is 
God's  eternal  heartache,  manifest  in  time  ! 
What  if,  sore-footed  and  heavy  -  hearted, 
bruised  with  many  a  fall,  we  should  come 
back  to  the  old  home,  from  '  which  once 
we  fled  away,  gay  and  foolish  prodigals  !  The 
time  was  when,  as  small  boys  and  girls,  with 
blinding  tears,  we  groped  toward  the  moth- 
er's bosom  and  sobbed  out  our  bitter  pain  and 
sorrow  with  the  full  stoi'y  of  our  sin.  What 
if  the  form  on  Calvary  were  like  the  king  of 
eternity,  toiling  up  the  hill  of  time,  his  feet 
bare,  his  locks  all  wet  with  the  dew  of  night, 
while  he  cries:  "Oh,  Absalom  !  my  son,  my 
son,  Absalom  !"'  What  if  we  are  Absalom, 
and  have  hurt  God's  heart !  Reason  staggers. 
Groping,  trusting,  hoping,  we  fall   blindly  on 

87 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

the  stairs  that  slope  through  darkness  up  to 
God.  But,  falling,  we  fall  into  the  arms  of 
Him  who  hath  suffered  vicariously  for  man 
from  the  fouudatioii  of  the  world. 


88 


Genius,  and  the  Debt  of  Strength. 


•'Paul  says:  '  I  am  a  debtor.'  But  what  had  he  received 
from  the  Greeks  that  he  was  bound  to  pay  back  ?  Was  he  a 
disciple  of  their  philosophy?  He  was  not.  Had  he  received 
from  their  bounty  in  the  matter  of  art  ?  No.  One  of  the  most 
striking  things  in  history  is  the  fact  that  Paul  abode  in  Athens 
and  wrote  about  it,  without  having  any  impression  made  upon 
his  imaginative  mind,  apparently,  by  its  statues,  its  pictures  or  its 
temples.  The  most  gorgeous  period  of  Grecian  art  poured  its 
light  on  his  path,  and  he  never  mentioned  it.  The  New  Testa- 
ment is  as  dead  to  art-beauty  as  though  it  had  been  written  by  a 
hermit  in  an  Egyptian  pyramid  who  had  never  seen  the  light  of 
sun.  Then  what  did  he  owe  the  Greeks  ?  Not  philosophy, 
not  art,  and  certainly  not  religion,  which  was  fetichism.  Not  a 
debt  of  literature,  nor  of  art,  nor  of  civil  polity;  not  a  debt 
of  pecuniary  obligation  ;  not  an  ordinary  debt.  He  had  noth- 
ing from  all  these  outside  sources.  The  whole  barbaric  world 
was  without  the  true  knowledge  of  God.  He  had  that  knowledge 
and  he  owed  it  to  every  man  who  had  it  not.  All  the  civilized 
world  was,  in  these  respects,  without  the  true  inspiration  ;  and  he 
owed  it  to  them  simply  because  they  did  not  have  it ;  and  his 
debt  to  them  was  founded  on  this  law  of  benevolence  of  which  I 
have  been" speaking,  which  is  to  supersede  selfishness,  and  accord- 
ing to  which  those  who  have  are  indebted  to  those  who  have 
not  the  world  over." — Henry  Ward  Beechtr, 


CHAPTER   V. 
Genius,  and  the  Debt  of  Strength. 

Booksellers  rank  "Quo  Vadis  "  as  one  of 
the  most  popular  books  of  the  day.  In  that  early- 
era  persecution  was  rife  and  cruelty  relent- 
less. It  was  the  time  of  Caligula,  who 
mourned  that  the  Roman  people  had  not  one 
neck,  so  that  he  could  cut  it  off  at  a  single 
blow;  of  Nero,  whose  evening  garden  parties 
were  lighted  by  the  forms  of  blazing  Chris- 
tians; of  Vespasian,  who  sewed  good  men  in 
skins  of  wild  beasts  to  be  worried  to  death  by 
dogs.  In  that  day  faith  and  death  walked  to- 
gether. 

Fulfilling  such  dangers,  the  disciples  came 
together  secretly  at  midnight.  But  the  spy 
was  abroad,  and  despite  all  precautions,  from 
time  to  time  brutal  soldiers  discovered  the 
place  of  meeting,  and,  bursting  in,  dragged  the 
worshipers  off  to  prison.  Then  a  cruel  strata- 
gem was  adopted  that  looked  to  the  discovery 
of  those  who  secretly  cherished  faith.  A  de- 
cree went  forth  forbidding  the  jailer  to  furnish 
food,  making  the  prisoners  dependent  upon 
friends  without. 

91 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

To  come  forward  as  a  friend  of  these  en- 
dungeoned  was  to  incur  the  risk  of  arrest  and 
death,  while  to  remain  in  hiding  was  to  leave 
friends  to  die  of  starvation.  Then  men 
counted  life  not  dear  unto  themselves.  Hero- 
ism became  a  contagion.  Even  children  dared 
death.  An  old  painting  shows  the  guard 
awakened  at  midnight  and  gazing  with  won- 
der upon  a  little  child  thrusting  food  between 
the  iron  bars  to  its  father.  In  the  darkness 
the  soldiers  sleeping  in  the  corridors  heard  the 
rustling  garments  of  some  maiden  or  mother 
who  loved  life  itself  less  than  husband  or 
friend.  These  tides  of  sympathy  made  men 
strong  against  torture;  old  men  lifted  joyful 
eyes  toward  those  above  them.  Loving  and 
beloved,  the  disciples  shared  their  burdens, 
and  those  in  the  prison  and  those  out  of  it 
together  went  to  fruitful  martyrdom. 

When  the  flames  of  persecution  had  swept 
by  and,  for  a  time,  good  men  had  respite,  Apol- 
los  recalled  with  joy  the  heroism  of  those 
without  the  prison  who  remembered  the  bonds 
of  those  within.  With  leaping  heart  he  called 
before  his  mind  the  vast  multitudes  in  all  ages 
who  go  fettered  through  life — men  bound  by 
poverty  and  hedged  in  by  ignorance;  men  baf- 
fled and  beaten  in  life's  fierce  battle,  bearing 
burdens  of  want  and  wretchedness;  and  by  the 

92 


^  Genius,  and  the  Debt  of  Strength. 

heroism  of  the  past  he  urged  all  men  every- 
where to  fulfill  that  law  of  sympathy  that 
makes  hard  tasks  easy  and  heavy  burdens 
light.  Let  the  broad  shoulders  stoop  to  lift 
the  load  with  weakness;  let  the  wise  and  refined 
share  the  sorrows  of  the  ignorant;  let  those 
whose  health  and  gifts  make  them  the  children 
of  fi'eedom  be  abi'oad  daily  on  missions  of 
mercy  to  those  whose  feet  are  fettered;  so 
shall  life  be  redeemed  out  of  its  woe  and  want 
and  sin  through  the  Christian  sympathy  of 
those  who  ' '  remember  men  in  the  bonds  as 
bound  with  them." 

Rejoicing  in  all  of  life's  good  things,  let  us 
confess  that  in  our  world-school  the  divine 
teachers  are  not  alone  happiness  and  prosperity, 
but  also  uncertainty  and  suffering,  defeat  and 
death.  Inventors  with  steel  plates  may  make 
warships  proof  against  bombs,  but  no  man 
hath  invented  an  armor  ao-ainst  troubles.  The 
arrows  of  calamity  are  numberless,  falling 
from  above  and  also  shot  up  from  beneath. 
Like  Achilles,  each  man  hath  one  vulnerable 
spot.  No  palace  door  is  proof  against  phan- 
toms. Each  prince's  palace  and  peasant's  cot- 
tage holds  at  least  one  bond-slave.  Byron, 
with  his  club-foot,  counted  himself  a  prisoner 
pacing  between  the  walls  of  his  narrow  dun- 
geon.    Keats,  struggling  against  his  consump- 

93 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

tion,  thought  his  career  that  of  the  galley- 
slave.  The  mother,  fastened  for  years  to  the 
couch  of  her  crippled  child,  is  bound  by  cords 
invisible,  indeed,  but  none  the  less  powerful. 
Nor  is  the  bondage  always  physical.  Here  is 
the  man  who  made  his  way  out  of  poverty  and 
loneliness  toward  wealth  and  position,  yet 
maintained  his  integrity  through  all  the  fight, 
and  stood  in  life's  evening  time  possessed  of 
wealth,  but  in  a  moment  saw  it  crash  into 
nothing  and  fell  under  bondage  to  poverty. 
And  here  is  some  Henry  Grady,  a  prince 
among  men,  the  leader  of  the  new  South,  his 
thoughts  like  roots  drinking  in  the  riches  of 
the  North;  his  speech  like  branches  dropping 
bounty  over  all  the  tropic  states,  seeming  to 
be  the  one  indispensable  man  of  his  section, 
but  who  in  the  midst  of  his  career  is  smitten 
and,  dying,  loft  his  pilgrim  band  in  bondage. 

Here  is  Sir  William  Napier  writing,  "I  am 
now  old  and  feeble  and  miserable;  my  eyes  are 
dim,  very  dim,  with  weeping  for  my  lost 
child,"  and  went  on  bound  midst  the  thick- 
shadows.  Or  here  are  the  man  and  woman, 
set  each  to  each  like  perfect  music  unto  noble 
words,  and  one  is  taken — but  Robert  Browning 
was  left  to  dwell  in  such  sorrow  that  for  a 
time  he  could  not  see  his  pen  for  the  thick 
darkness.     Here  is  the  youth  who  by  one  sin 

94 


Genius,  and  the  Debt  of  Strength. 

fell  out  of  man's  regai'd,  and  struggling  up- 
ward, found  it  was  a  far  cry  back  to  the  lost 
heights,  and  wrote  the  story  of  his  broken  life 
in  the  song  of  "the  bird  with  the  broken  pin- 
ion, that  never  flew  as  high  again."  Sooner 
or  later  each  life  passes  under  bondage.  For 
all  strength  will  vanish  as  the  morning  dew, 
our  joys  take  wings  and  flit  away;  the  eye  dim, 
the  ear  dull,  the  thought  decay,  our  dearest 
die.  Oft  life's  waves  and  billows  chill  us  to 
the  very  marrow,  while  we  gasp  and  shiver 
midst  the  surging  tide.  Then  it  is  a  blessed 
thing  to  look  out  through  blinding  tears  upon 
a  friendly  face,  to  feel  the  touch  of  a  friendly 
hand  and  to  know  there  are  some  who 
"remember  those  in  bonds,  as  bound  with 
them." 

Now  this  principle  of  social  sympathy  and 
liability  gives  us  the  secret  of  all  the  epoch- 
making  men  of  our  time.  Carlyle  once  called 
Ruskin  "  the  seer  that  guides  his  generation." 
More  recently  a  prominent  philanthropist  said: 
"All  our  social  reform  movements  are  largely 
the  influence  of  John  Ruskin."  How  earned 
this  man  such  meed  of  praise?  Upon  John 
Ruskin  fortune  poured  forth  all  her  gifts.  He 
was  born  the  child  of  supreme  genius.  He 
was  heir  to  nearly  a  million  dollars,  and  by  his 
pen  earned  a  fortune  in  addition.     At  the  age 

95 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

of  21,  when  most  young  men  were  beginning 
their  reading,  he  completed  a  book  that  put 
his  name  and  fame  in  every  man's  mouth. 
"For  a  thousand  who  can  speak,  there  is  but 
one  who  can  think ;  for  a  thousand  who  can 
think,  there  is  but  one  who  can  see,"  and  to 
this  youth  was  given  the  open  vision.  In  the 
hour  of  fame  the  rich  and  great  vied  to  do  him 
honor,  and  every  door  opened  at  his  touch. 
But  he  turned  aside  to  become  the  knight- 
errant  of  the  poor.  Walking  along  White- 
chapel  road  he  saw  multitudes  of  shop- 
men and  shopwomen  whose  stint  was  eighty 
hours  a  week,  who  toiled  mid  poisoned  air 
until  the  brain  reeled,  the  limbs  trembled,  and 
worn  out  physically  and  mentally  they  suc- 
cumbed to  spinal  disease  or  premature  age, 
leaving  behind  only  enfeebled  progeny,  until 
the  city's  streets  became  graves  of  the  human 
physique.  In  that  hour  London  seemed  to 
him  like  a  prison  or  hospital;  nor  was  it  given 
to  him  to  play  upon  its  floor  as  some  rich  men 
do,  knitting  its  straw  into  crowns  that  please; 
clutching  at  its  dust  in  Ihe  cracks  of  the  floor, 
to  die  counting  the  motes  by  millions.  The 
youth  "remembered  men  in  bonds  as  bound 
with  them."  He  tithed  himself  a  tenth,  then 
a  third,  then  a  half,  and  at  length  used  up 
his    fortune    in     noV^le  service.       He  founded 

96 


Genius,  and  the  Debt  of  Strength. 

clubs  for  workingmen  and  taught  them  in- 
dustiy,  honor  and  self-reliance.  He  bought 
spinning-wheels  and  raw  flax,  and  made  pauper 
women  self-supporting.  He  founded  the 
Sheffield  Museum,  and  placed  there  his  paint- 
ings and  marbles,  that  workers  in  iron  and 
steel  might  have  the  finest  models  and  bring 
all  their  handiwork  up  toward  beauty.  He 
asked  his  art-students  in  Oxford  to  give  one 
hour  each  day  to  pounding  stones  and  filling 
holes  in  the  street.  When  his  health  gave 
way  Arnold  Toynbee,  foreman  of  his  student 
gang,  went  forth  to  carry  his  lectures  on  the 
industrial  revolution  up  and  down  the  land. 
Falling  on  hard  days  and  evil  tongues  and 
lying  customs,  he  wore  himself  out  in  knightly 
service.  So  he  gained  his  place  among  "  the 
immortals."  But  the  secret  of  his  genius  and 
influence  is  this:  He  fulfilled  the  debt  of 
strength  and  the  law  of  social  sympathy 
and  service.. 

This  spirit  of  sympathetic  helpfulness  has 
also  given  us  what  is  called  "the  new  woman- 
hood." To-day  our  civilization  is  rising  to 
higher  levels.  Woman  has  brought  love  into 
law,  justice  into  institutions,  ethics  into  poli- 
tics, refinement  into  the  common  life.  Re- 
forms have  become  possible  that  were  hitherto 
impracticable.     King  Arthur's  Knights  of  the 

91 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

Round  Table  marching  forth  for  freeing  some 
fair  lady  were  never  more  soldierly  than  these 
who  have  become  the  friends  and  protectors  of 
the  poor.  The  movement  began  with  Mary 
Ware,  who  after  long  absence  journeyed  home- 
ward. While  the  coach  stopped  at  Durham 
she  heard  of  the  villages  near  by  where  fever 
was  emptying  all  the  homes;  and  leaving  the 
coach  turned  aside  to  nurse  these  fever-stricken 
creatures  and  lig-ht  them  through  the  dark  val- 
ley.  Then  came  Florence  Nightingale  and  Mary 
Stanley,  braving  rough  seas,  deadly  fever  and 
bitter  cold  to  nurse  sick  soldiers  in  Crimea, 
and  returned  to  find  themselves  broken  in 
health  and  slaves  to  pain,  like  those  whom 
they  remembered.  Then  rose  up  a  great  group 
of  noble  women  like  Mary  Lyon  and  Sarah 
Judson,  who  journeyed  forth  upon  errands  of 
mercy  into  the  swamps  of  Africa  and  the 
mountains  of  Asia,  making  their  ways  into 
garrets  and  tenements,  missionaries  of  mercy 
and  healing.  Knights  of  the  Red  Cross  and 
veritable  "King's  Daughters."  No  cottage 
so  remote  as  not  to  feel  this  new  influence. 

Fascinating,  also,  the  life-story  of  that  fair, 
sweet  girl  who  married  Audubon.  Yearning 
for  her  own  home,  yet  finding  that  her  hus- 
band would  journey  a  thousand  miles  and  give 
months  to  studying  the  home  and  haunts  of  a 

98 


Genius,  and  the  Debt  of  Strength. 

bird,  she  gave  up  her  heart-dreams  and  went 
with  him  into  the  forest,  dwelling  now  in 
tents,  and  now  in  some  rude  cabin,  being  a 
wanderer  upon  the  face  of  the  earth — until, 
when  children  came,  she  remained  behind  and 
dwelt  apart.  At  last  the  naturalist  came  home 
after  long  absence  to  fulfill  the  long-cherished 
dream  of  years  of  quiet  study  with  wife  and 
children,  but  found  that  the  mice  had  eaten 
his  drawings  and  destroyed  the  sketches  he 
had  left  behind  Then  was  he  dumb  with  grief 
and  dazed  with  pain,  but  it  was  his  brave 
wife  who  led  him  to  the  gate  and  thrust  him 
forth  into  the  forest  and  sent  him  out  upon  his 
mission,  saying  that  there  was  no  valley  so 
deep  nor  no  wilderness  so  distant  but  that  his 
thought,  turning  homeward,  would  see  the  light 
burning  brightly  for  him.  And  in  those  dark 
days  when  our  land  trembled,  and  a  million 
men  from  the  north  tramped  southward  and  a 
million  men  from  the  south  tramped  north- 
ward, and  the  columns  met  with  a  concussion 
that  threatened  to  rend  the  land  asunder, 
there,  in  the  battle,  midst  the  din  and  confusion 
and  blood,  women  walked,  angels  of  light  and 
mercy,  not  merely  holding  the  cup  of  cold 
water  to  famished  lips,  or  stanching  the  life- 
blood  until  surgeons  came,  but  teaching  soldier 
boys  in  the  dying  hour  the  way  through  the 

99 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

valley  and  beyond  it  up  the  heavenly  hills. 
These  all  fulfilled  their  mission  and  "remem- 
bered those  in  bonds  as  bound  with  them." 

This  principle  also  has  been  and  is  the 
spring  of  all  progress  in  humanity  and  civ- 
ilization. Our  journalists  and  orators  pour 
forth  unstinted  praise  upon  the  achievements 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  But  in  what  realm 
lies  our  supremacy?  Not  in  education,  for  our 
schools  produce  no  such  thinkers  or  universal 
scholars  as  Plato  and  his  teacher;  not  in  elo- 
quence, for  our  orators  still  ponder  the  pei'iods 
of  the  oration  "  On  the  Crown;"  not  in  sculp- 
ture or  architecture,  for  the  broken  fragments 
of  Phidias  are  still  models  for  our  youth.  The 
nature  of  our  superiority  is  suggested  when 
we  speak  of  the  doing  away  with  the  exposure 
of  children,  the  building  of  homes,  hospitals 
and  asylums  for  the  poor  and  weak;  the  caring 
for  the  sick  instead  of  turning  them  adrift;  the 
support  of  the  aged  instead  of  burying  them 
alive;  the  dimished  frequency  of  wars;  the  dis- 
appearance of  torture  in  obtaining  testimony; 
humanity  toward  the  shipwrecked,  where  once 
luring  ships  upon  the  rocks  was  a  trade;  the 
settlement  of  disputes  by  umpires  and  of  na- 
tional differences   by  arbitration. 

Humanity  and  social  sympathy  are  the 
glory    of    our    age.       Society    has    come    to 

lOO 


Genius,  and  the  Debt  of  Strength. 

remember  that  those  in  bonds  are  bound 
by  them.  Indeed,  the  application  of  this 
principle  to  the  various  departments  of 
human  life  furnishes  the  historian  with  the 
milestones  of  human  progi'ess.  The  age  of 
Sophocles  was  not  shocked  when  the  poet 
wrote  the  stoi'y  of  the  child  exposed  by  the 
wayside  to  be  adopted  by  some  passer-by,  or 
torn  in  pieces  by  wild  dogs,  or  chilled  to  death 
in  the  cold.  When  the  wise  men  brought 
their  gold  and  frankincense  to  the  babe  in  the 
manger,  men  felt  the  sacredness  of  infancy. 
As  the  light  from  the  babe  in  Correggio's 
'  Holy  Night  "  illumined  all  the  surrounding 
figures,  so  the  child  resting  in  the  Lord's  arms 
for  shelter  and  sacred  benediction  began  to 
shed  luster  upon  the  home  and  to  lead  the 
state.  To-day  the  nurture  and  culture  in  the 
schools  are  society's  attempt  to  remember  the 
little  ones  in  bonds.  Fulfilling  the  same  law 
Xavier,  with  his  wealth  and  splendid  talents, 
remembered  bound  ones  and  journeyed  through 
India,  jDenetrating  all  the  Eastern  lands,  being 
physician  for  the  sick,  nurse  for  the  dying, 
minister  for  the  ignorant;  his  face  benignant; 
his  eloquence,  love;  his  atmosphere,  sympathy; 
carrying  his  message  of  peace  to  the  farther- 
most shores  of  the  Chinese  Sea,  through  his 
zeal  for    "those  who   were   in    bonds."     And 

lOI 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

thus  John  Howard  visited  the  prisons  of  Eu- 
rope for  cleansing  these  foul  dens  and  wiped 
from  the  sword  of  justice  its  most  polluting 
stain.  Fulfilling  the  debt  of  sti'ength,Wilber- 
force  and  Garrison,  Sumner  and  Brown,  fronted 
furious  slave-holders,  enduring  every  form  of 
abuse  and  vituperation  and  personal  violence, 
and  destroyed  the  infamous  traffic  in  human 
flesh. 

This  new  spirit  of  sympathy  and  service  it 
is  that  offers  us  help  in  solving  the  problems 
of  social  unrest  and  disquietude.  Events  will 
not  let  us  forget  that  ours  is  an  age  of  indus- 
trial discontent.  Society  is  full  of  warfare. 
Prophets  of  evil  tidings  foretell  social  revo- 
lution. The  professional  agitators  are  abroad, 
sowing  discord  and  nourishing  hatred  and  strife, 
and  even  the  optimists  sorrowfully  confess  the 
antagonism  between  classes.  There  is  an  in- 
dustrial class  strong  and  happy,  both  rich  and 
poor;  and  there  is  an  idle  class  weak  and 
wicked  and  miserable,  among  both  rich  and 
poor.  Unfortunately,  as  has  been  said,  the  wise 
of  one  class  contemplate  only  the  foolish  of  the 
other.  The  industrious  man  of  means  is 
offended  by  the  idle  beggar,  and  identifies  all 
the  poor  with  him,  and  the  hard-working  but 
poor  workman  despises  the  licentious  luxury 
of  one   rich   man,    and   identifies  all   the  rich 

1 02 


Genius,  and  the  Debt  of  Strength. 

with  him.  But  there  are  idle  poor  and  idle 
rich  and  busy  poor  and  busy  rich.  "  If  the 
busy  rich  people  watched  and  rebuked  the  idle 
rich  people,  all  would  be  well ;  and  if  the  busy 
poor  peojDle  watched  and  rebuked  the  idle  poor 
people  all  would  be  right.  Many  a  beggar  is 
as  lazy  as  if  he  had  $10,000  a  year,  and  many 
a  man  of  large  fortune  is  busier  than  his 
errand  boy." 

Forgetting  this,  some  poor  look  upon  the 
rich  as  enemies  and  desire  to  pillage  their 
property,  and  some  rich  have  only  epithets 
for  the  poor.  Now,  wise  men  know  that 
there  is  no  separation  of  rich  industrious 
classes  and  the  poor  industrious  classes,  for 
they  differ  only  as  do  two  branches  of  one 
tree.  This  year  one  bough  is  full  of  bloom, 
and  the  other  bears  only  scantily,  but  next 
year  the  conditions  will  be  reversed.  Wealth 
and  poverty  are  like  waves;  what  is  now  ci'cst 
will  soon  be  trough.  Such  conditions  demand 
forbearance  and  mutual  sympathy.  Some  men 
are  born  with  little  and  some  with  large  skill 
for  acquiring  wealth,  the  two  differing  as  the 
scythe  that  gathers  a  handful  of  wheat  differs 
from  the  reaper  built  for  vast  harvests  and 
carrying  the  sickle  of  success.  For  genera- 
tions the  ancestors  back  of  one  man's  father 
were    thrifty    and    the    ancestors  back   of  his 

103 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

mother  were  far-sighted,  and  the  two  columns 
met  in  him,  and  like  two  armies  joined  forces 
for  a  vast  campaign  for  wealth.  Beside 
him  is  a  brother,  whose  thoughts  and  dreams 
go  everywhither  with  the  freedom  of  an  eagle, 
but  who  walks  midst  practical  things  with  the 
eagle's  halting  gait.  The  strong  one  was 
born,  not  for  spoiling  his  weaker  brother,  but 
to  guai'd  and  guide  and  plan  for  him. 

This  is  the  lesson  of  nature — the  strong  must 
bear  the  burdens  of  the  weak.  To  this  end  were 
great  men  born.  Nature  constantly  exhibits  this 
principle.  The  shell  of  the  peach  shelters  the 
inner  seed;  the  outer  petals  of  the  bud  the 
tender  germ;  the  breast  of  the  mother-bird 
protects  the  helpless  birdlets;  the  eagle  flies 
under  her  young  and  gently  eases  them  to  the 
ground;  above  the  babe's  helplessness  rise  the 
parents'  shield  and  armor.  God  appoints 
strong  men,  the  industrial  giants,  to  protect 
the  weak  and  poor.  The  laws  of  helpfulness 
ask  them  to  forswear  a  part  of  their  industrial 
rights,  and  they  fulfill  their  destiny  only  by 
fulfilling  the  debt  of  strength  to  weakness. 

To  identify  one's  self  with  those  in  bonds  is 
the  very  core  of  the  Christian  life.  Not  an  in- 
tellectual belief  within,  not  a  form  of  worship 
without,  but  sympathetic  helpfulness  betokens 
the  true  Christian.     God,  who  hath  endowed 

J  04 


Genius,  and  the  Debt  of  Strength. 

the  soul  with  capacity  to  endure  all  labors  and 
pains  for  wealth,  to   consume  away  the  very 
springs  of  life  for  knowledge,  hath  also  given 
it  power  for  pouring  itself  out  in  great  resist- 
less tides  of  love  and  sympathy.     For  beauty 
and  royal  majesty  nothing  else  is  comparable 
to  the  love  of  some  royal  nature.     A  loving 
heart   exhales    sweet   odors  like  an  alabaster 
box;  it  pours  forth  joy  like  a  sweet  harp;  it 
flashes  beauty  like  a  casket  of  gems ;  it  cheers 
like  a  winter's   fire;  it  carries  sweet  stimulus 
like  retui-ning  sunshine.      We  have  all  known 
a  few  srreat-hearted  men  and  women  who  have 
through  years  distributed  their  love-treasures 
among  the  little  children  of    the   community 
and    scattered  affection  among  the  poor  and 
the  weak,  until   the   entire  community  comes 
to  feel  that  it  lives  in  them  and  without  them 
will  die.     Happy  the  man  who  hath  stored  up 
such   treasures  of  mind  and  heart  as  that  he 
stands  forth  among  his   fellows  like  a  light- 
house on  some  ledge,  sending  guiding  rays  far 
out   o'er    dark     and   troubled    seas.       Happy 
the    woman    whose   ripened    affection  and  in- 
spiration have  permeated  the  common  life  until 
to  her   come   the   poor  and   weak   and  heart- 
broken,  standing  forth   like    some   beauteous 
bower  offering  shade  and  filling  all  the  air  with 
sweet  perfume. 

105 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

In  crisis  hours  the  patriot  and  martyr, 
the  hero  and  the  philanthropist,  die  for 
the  public  good;  but  not  less  do  they  serve 
their  fellows  who  live  and  through  years 
employ  their  gifts  and  heart-treasures,  not  for 
themselves,  but  for  the  happiness  and  highest 
welfare  of  others.  Richter,  the  German  artist, 
painted  a  series  of  paintings  illustrating  the 
ministry  of  angels.  He  showed  us  the  child- 
angels  who  sit  talking  with  mortal  children 
among  the  flowers,  now  holding  them  by  their 
coats  lest  they  fall  upon  the  stairs,  now  with 
apples  enticing  them  back  when  they  draw  too 
near  the  precipice;  when  the  boy  grows  tall 
and  is  tempted,  ringing  in  the  chambers  of 
memory  the  sweet  mother's  name;  in  the  hour 
of  death  coming  in  the  garb  of  pilgrim,  made 
ready  for  convoy  and  guidance  to  the  heavenly 
land.  Oh  beautiful  pictures!  setting  forth 
the  sacred  ministry  of  each  true  Christian 
heart. 

History  tells  of  the  servant  whose  master 
was  sold  into  Algeria,  and  who  sold  himself 
and  wandered  years  in  the  great  desert  in  the 
mere  hope  of  at  last  finding  and  freeing  his 
lord;  of  the  obscure  man  in  the  Eastern  city 
who,  misunderstood  and  unpopular,  left  a  will 
stating  that  he  had  been  poor  and  suffered  for 
lack  of  water,  and   so  had  starved  and  slaved 

1 06 


Genius,  and  the  Debt  of  Strength. 

thi'ough  life  to  build  an  aqueduct  for  his  native 
town,  that  the  poor  might  not  suffer  as  he  had; 
of  the  soldier  in  the  battle,  wounded  in  cheek 
and  mouth  and  dying  of  thirst,  but  who  would 
not  drink  lest  he  should  spoil  the  water  for 
others,  and  so  yielded  up  his  life.  But  this 
capacity  of  sacrifice  and  sympathy  is  but  the 
little  in  man  answering  to  what  is  large  in 
God.  Here  deep  answers  unto  deep.  The 
definition  of  the  Divine  One  is,  he  remembers 
those  in  bonds,  and  it  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  to  receive;  more  blessed  to  feed  the 
hungry  than  starving  to  be  fed;  more  blessed 
to  pour  light  on  darkened  misunderstanding 
than  ignorant  to  be  taught;  more  blessed  to 
open  the  path  through  the  wilderness  of  doubt 
than  wandering  to  be  guided;  more  blessed  to 
bring  in  the  bewildered  pilgrim  than  to  be  lost 
and  rescued;  more  blessed  to  forgive  than  to 
be  forgiven;  to  save  than  to  be  saved. 


107 


The  Time  Element  in  Individual 
Character  and  Social  Growth. 


"  All  that  we  possess  has  come  to  us  by  way  of  a  long  path. 
There  is  no  instantaneous  liberty  or  wisdom  or  language  or 
beauty  or  religion.  Old  philosophies,  old  agriculture,  old 
domestic  arts,  old  sciences,  medicine,  chemistry,  astronomy, 
old  modes  of  travel  and  commerce,  old  forms  of  government 
and  religion  have  all  come  in  gracefully  or  ungracefully  and 
have  said  :  'Progress  is  king,  and  long  live  the  king!' 
Year  after  year  the  mind  perceives  education  to  expand,  art 
sweeps  along  from  one  to  ten,  music  adds  to  its  early  richness, 
love  passes  outwardly  from  self  towards  the  race,  friendships  be- 
come laden  with  more  pleasure,  truths  change  into  sentiments, 
sentiments  blossom  into  deeds,  nature  paints  its  flowers  and  leaves 
with  richer  tints,  literature  becomes  the  more  perfect  picture  of  a 
more  perfect  intellect,  the  doctrines  of  religion  become  broader 
and  sweeter  in  their  philosophy." — Da-vid  Swing. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

The  Time  Element  in  Individual 
Character  and  Social  Growth. 

For  all  lovers  of  their  kiud,  nothing   is   so 
hard   to  bear  as   the  slowness  of  the  upward 
progress  of  society.     It  is  not  simply  that  the 
rise  of    the    common    people    is    accompanied 
with  heavy  wastes  and  losses;   it  is  that  the 
upward  movement  is  along  lines  so  vast  as  to 
make  society's  growth  seem  tardy,  delayed,  or 
even  reversed.    Doubtless  the  drift  of  the  ages 
is  upward,  but  this  progress  becomes  apparent 
only  when  age  is  compared  with  age    and  cen- 
tury with  century.     It  is  not  easy   for  some 
Bruno  or  Wickliffe,   sowing  the  good  seed  of 
liberty  and  toleration  in  one  century,  to  know 
that  not  until  another  century  hath  passed  will 
the  precious   harvest  be   reaped.     Man  is  ac- 
customed   to   brief   intervals.     Not   long    the 
space  between  January's  snowdrifts  and  June's 
red  berries.     Brief  the  interval    between   the 
egg   and    the    eagle's  full    flight.     Scarcely  a 
score  of  years  separates  the  infant  of  days  from 
the  youth  of  full  stature.    Trained  to  expect  the 
April    seed  to  stand  close  beside  the  August 

1 1 1 


The  Investment  of' Influence. 

sheaf,  it  is  not  easy  for  man  to  accustom  him- 
self to  the  processes  of  him  witli  whom  four- 
score years  are  but  a  handbreadth  and  a  thous- 
and years  as  but  one  day. 

To  man,  therefore,  toiling  upon  his  industry, 
his  art,  his  government,  his  religion,  comes 
this  reflection:  Because  the  divine  epochs  are 
long,  let  not  the  patriot  or  parent  be  sick  with 
hope  long  deferred.  Let  the  reformer  sow  his 
seed  untroubled  when  the  sickle  rusts  in  the 
hand  that  waits  for  its  harvest.  Eemember 
that  as  things  go  up  in  value,  the  period  be- 
tween inception  and  fruition  is  protracted. 
Because  the  plant  is  low,  the  days  between 
seed  and  sheaf  are  few  and  short ;  because  the 
bird  is  higher,  months  stand  between  egg  and 
eagle.  But  manhood  is  a  thing  so  high,  cul- 
ture and  character  are  harvests  so  rich  as  to 
ask  years  and  even  ages  for  ripening,  while 
God's  purposes  for  society  involve  such  treas- 
ures of  art,  wisdom,  wealth,  law,  liberty,  as  to 
ask  eons  and  cycles  for  their  full  perfection. 
Therefore  let  each  patriot  and  sage,  each  re- 
former and  teacher  be  patient.  The  world 
itself  is  a  seed.  Not  until  ages  have  passed 
shall  it  burst  into  bloom  and  blossom. 

Troubled  by  the  strifes  of  society,  depressed 
by  the  waste  of  its  forces  and  the  delays  of  its 
columns,   he  who  seeks  character  for  himself 

1 12 


The  Time  Element. 

and  progress  for  his  kind,  oft  needs  to  shelter 
himself  beneath  that  divine  principle  called 
the  time-element  for  the  individual  and  the 
race.  Optimists  are  we;  our  world  is  God's; 
wastes  shall  yet  become  savings  and  defeats 
victories;  nevertheless,  life's  woes,  wrongs  and 
delays  are  such  as  to  stir  misgiving.  The 
multitudes  hunger  for  power  and  influence, 
hunger  for  wealth  and  wisdom,  for  happiness 
and  comfort;  satisfaction  seems  denied  them. 
Watt  and  Goodyear  invent,  other  men  enter 
into  the  fruit  of  their  inventions;  Erasmus  and 
Melanchthon  sow  the  good  seeds  of  learning; 
two  centuries  pass  by  befoi*e  God's  angels 
count  the  bundles.  In  a  passion  of  enthusiasm 
for  England's  poor,  Cobden  wore  his  life  out 
toiling  for  the  corn  laws.  The  reformer  died 
for  the  cotton-spinners  as  truly  as  if  he  had 
slit  his  arteries  and  emptied  out  the  crimson 
flood.  But  when  the  victory  was  won,  the 
wreath  of  fame  was  placed  upon  another's 
brow.  One  day  Robert  Peel  arose  in  the 
House  of  Commons  and  in  the  presence  of  an 
indignant  party  and  an  astounded  country, 
proudly  said:  "I  have  been  wrong.  I  now  aslc 
Parliament  to  I'epeal  the  law  for  which  I  my- 
self have  stood.  Where  there  was  discontent,  I 
see  contentment;  where  there  was  turbulence,  I 
see  peace;  where  there  was  disloyalty,   I  see 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

loyalty."  Then  the  fury  of  party  anger  burst 
upon  him,  and  bowing  to  the  storm,  Robert 
Peel  went  forth  while  men  hissed  after  him 
such  words  as  "traitor,"  "coward,"  "re- 
creant leader."  Nor  did  he  foresee  that  in  los- 
ing an  office  he  had  gained  the  love  of  a 
country. 

What  delays  also  in  justice  !  What  recogni- 
tion does  society  withhold  from  its  heroes  ! 
What  praise  speaks  above  the  pulseless  corpse 
that  is  denied  the  living,  hungering  heart ! 
What  gold  coin  spent  for  the  marble  wreath  by 
those  who  have  no  copper  for  laurel  for  the 
living  hero!  How  do  rewards  that  dazzle  in 
prospect,  in  possession,  burst  like  gaudy  bub- 
bles !  Honors  are  evanescent;  reputation  is  a 
vapor;  property  takes  wings;  possessions 
counted  firm  as  adamant  dissolve  like  painted 
clouds;  in  the  hour  of  depression  the  hand 
drops  its  tool,  the  heart  its  task.  In  such  dark 
hours  and  moods,  strong  men  reflect  that  he 
who  sows  the  good  seed  of  liberty  or  culture  or 
character  must  have  long  patience  until  the 
harvest;  that  as  things  go  up  in  value  they  ask 
for  longer  time;  that  he  is  the  true  hero  who 
redeems  himself  out  of  present  defeat  by  the 
foresight  of  far-off  and  future  victory;  that  that 
man  has  a  patent  of  nobility  from  God  himself 
who  can  lay  out  his  life  upon  the  principle  that 

114 


The  Time  Element. 

a  thousand  years  are  as  one  day.  The  truly 
great  man  takes  long  steps  by  God's  side;  has 
the  courage  of  the  future ;  working,  he  can  also 
wait. 

For  man,  fulfilling  such  a  career,  no  prin- 
ciple hath  greater  practical  value  than  this 
one;  as  things  rise  in  the  scale  of  value  the 
interval  between  seedtime  and  harvest  must 
lengthen.  Happily  for  us,  God  hath  capital- 
ized this  principle  in  nature  and  life.  Each 
gardener  knows  that  what  ripens  quickest  is 
of  least  worth.  The  mushroom  needs  only  a 
night;  the  moss  asks  a  week  for  covering  the 
fallen  tree;  the  humble  vegetable  asks  several 
weeks  and  the  strawberry  a  few  months;  but, 
planting  his  apple  tree,  the  gardener  must 
wait  a  few  years  for  his  ripened  russet,  and  the 
woodsman  many  years  for  the  full-grown  oak  or 
elm.  If  in  thought  we  go  back  to  the  dawn  of 
creation — to  that  moment  when  sun  and  planet 
succeeded  to  clouds  of  fire,  when  a  red-hot 
earth,  cooling,  put  on  an  outer  crust,  when 
gravity  drew  into  deep  hollows  the  waters  that 
cooled  the  earth  and  purified  the  upper  air — and 
then  follow  on  in  nature's  footsteps,  passing  up 
the  stairway  of  ascending  life  from  lichen, 
moss  and  fern,  on  to  the  culminating  mo- 
ment in  man,  we  shall  ever  find  that  increase  of 
value  means  an  increase  of  time  for  growth. 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

The  fern  asks  days,  the  reed  asks  weeks,  the 
bird  for  months,  the  beast  for  a  handful  of 
years,  but  man  for  an  epoch  measured  by 
twenty  years  and  more.  To  grow  a  sage  or  a 
statesman  nature  asks  thirty  years  with  which 
to  build  the  basis  of  greatness  in  the  bone  and 
muscle  of  the  peasant  grandparents;  thirty 
years  in  which  to  compact  the  nerve  and  braii- 
of  parents;  thirty  years  more  in  which  the  heir 
of  these  ancesti-al  gifts  shall  enter  into  full- 
orbed  power  and  stand  forth  fully  furnished 
for  his  task.  Nature  makes  a  dead  snowflake 
in  a  night,  but  not  a  living  star-flower.  For 
her  best  things  nature  asks  long  time. 

The  time-principle  holds  equally  in  man's 
social  and  industrial  life.  To-day  our  colleges 
have  their  anthropological  departments  and 
our  cities  their  museums.  The  comparative 
study  of  the  dress,  weapons,  tools,  houses, 
ships  of  savage  and  civilized  races  gives  an  out- 
line view  of  the  progress  of  society.  How 
fragile  and  rude  the  handiwork  of  savages  ! 
How  quickly  are  the  wants  provided  for!  A  few 
fig  leaves  make  a  full  summer  suit  for  the  Afri- 
can and  the  skin  of  an  ox  his  garb  for  winter. 
But  civilized  man  must  toil  long  upon  his 
loom  for  garments  of  wool  and  fine  silk. 
Slowly  the  hollow  log  journeys  toward  the 
ocean  steamer;  slowly  the  forked  stick  gives 

ii6 


The  Time  Element. 

place  to  the  steam-plow,  the  slow  ox  to  the 
swift  engine;  slowly  the  sea-shell,  with  three 
strings  tied  across  its  mouth,  develops  into  the 
many-mouthed  pipe-organ.  But  if  rude  and 
low  conveniences  represent  little  time  and  toil, 
these  later  inventions  represent  centuries  of 
arduous  labor.  In  his  history  of  the  German 
tribes,  Tacitus  gives  us  a  picture  of  a  day's  toil 
for  one  of  the  forest  children.  Moving  to  the 
banks  of  some  new  stream,  the  rude  man  peels 
the  bark  from  the  tree  and  bends  it  over  the 
tent  pole;  with  a  club  he  beats  down  the  nuts 
from  the  branches;  with  a  round  stone  he 
knocks  the  squirrel  fi-om  the  bough;  another 
hour  suffices  for  cutting  a  line  from  the  ox's 
hide  and,  hastily  making  a  hook  out  of  the 
wishbone  of  the  bird,  he  draws  the  trout  from 
its  stream.  But  if  for  savage  man  a  day 
suffices  for  building  and  provisioning  the  tent, 
the  accumulated  wisdom  of  centuries  is  re- 
quired for  the  home  of  to-day.  One  century 
offers  an  arch  for  the  door,  another  century  of- 
fers glass  windows,  another  offers  wrought 
nails  and  hinges,  another  plaster  that  will  re- 
ceive and  hold  the  warm  colors,  another  offers 
the  marble,  tapestry,  picture  and  piano,  the 
thousand  conveniences  for  use  and  beauty. 

Husbandry  also  represents  patience  and  the 
labor  of   generations.     Were  it   given  to   the 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

child,  tearing  open  the  golden  meat  of  the 
fruit,  to  trace  the  ascent  of  the  tree,  he  would 
see  the  wild  apple  or  bitter  orange  growing  in 
the  edge  of  the  ancient  forest.  But  man, 
standing  by  the  fruit,  grafted  it  for  sweetness, 
pruned  it  for  the  juicy  flow,  nourished  it  for 
taste  and  color.  Could  he  who  picks  the  peach 
or  pear  have  this  inner  vision,  he  would  behold 
an  untold  company  of  husbandmen  standing  be- 
neath the  branches  and  pointing  to  their  special 
contributions.  The  fathers  labored,  the  chil- 
dren entered  into  the  fruitage  of  the  labor  in 
his  dream ;  the  poet  slept  in  St.  Peter's  and 
saw  the  shadowy  forms  of  all  the  architects  and 
builders  from  the  beginning  of  time  standing 
about  him  and  giving  their  special  contribu- 
tions to  Bramante  and  Angelo's  great  temple. 
Thus  many  hands  have  toiled  upon  man's  house, 
man's  art,  industry,  invention. 

In  the  realm  of  law  and  liberty  the  best 
things  ask  for  patience  and  waitin  g.  Out  of 
nothing  nothing  comes.  The  institution  that 
represents  little  toil  but  little  time  endures. 
Man's  early  history  is  involved  in  obscurity, 
largely  because  his  early  arts  were  mush- 
roomic  —  completed  quickly,  they  quickly  per- 
ished. The  ideas  scratched  upon  the  flat  leaf 
or  the  thin  reed  represented  scant  labor  and 
therefore  soon  were  dust.      But  he  who  holds 

ii8 


The  Time  Element. 

in  his  hand  a  modern  book  holds  the  fruitage 
of  years  many  and  long.  For  that  book  we 
see  the  workmen  ranging  far  for  linen;  we  see 
the  printer  toiling  upon  his  movable  types;  we 
see  the  artist  etching  his  plate;  the  author 
giving  his  days  to  study  and  his  nights  to 
reflection;  and  because  the  book  harvests  the 
study  of  a  great  man's  lifetime  it  endures 
throughout  generations.  The  sciences  also 
increase  in  value  only  as  the  time  spent  upon 
them  is  lengthened.  Few  and  brief  were  the 
days  required  for  the  early  astronomers  to 
work  out  the  theory  that  the  earth  is  fiat, 
the  sky  a  roof,  the  stars  holes  in  which  tlie 
gods  have  hung  lighted  lamps.  The  theory 
that  makes  our  earth  sweep  round  the  sun, 
our  sun  sweep  round  a  far-off  star,  all  lesser 
groups  sweep  round  one  central  sun,  that 
shepherds  all  the  other  systems,  asks  for  the 
toil  of  Galileo  and  Kepler,  of  Copernicus  and 
Newton,  and  a  great  company  of  modern  stu- 
dents. The  father  of  astronomy  had  to  wait 
a  thousand  years  for  the  fruition  of  his  science. 
Upon  those  words,  called  law  or  love,  or 
mother  or  king,  man  hath  with  patience  la- 
bored. The  word  wife  or  mother  is  so  rich  to- 
day as  to  make  Homer's  ideal,  Helen,  seem  poor 
and  almost  contemptible.  The  girl  was  very 
beautiful,    but  very  painful  the  alacrity  with 

Iiq 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

which  she  passes  from  the  arms  of  Menelaus 
to  the  arms  of  Paris,  from  the  arms  of  Paris 
to  those  of  Doiphobus,  his  conqueror.  If  one 
hour  only  was  required  for  this  lovely  creature 
to  pack  her  belongings  preparatory  to  moving 
to  the  tent  of  her  new  lord,  one  day  fully  suf- 
ficed for  transferring  her  affections  from  one 
prince  to  another.  But,  toiling  ever  upward 
to  her  physical  beauty,  woman  added  mental 
beauty,  moral  beauty,  until  the  word  wife  or 
mother  or  home  came  to  have  almost  infinite 
wealth  of  meaning. 

In  government  also  the  best  political  instru- 
ments ask  for  longest  time.  Hercules  ruled 
by  the  right  of  physical  strength.  Assem- 
bling the  peopl^,  he  challenged  all  rivals  to 
combat.  A  single  hour  availed  for  cutting 
off  the  head  of  his  enemy.  Henceforth  he 
reigned  an  unchallenged  king  Because  man 
hath  with  patience  toiled  long  upon  this 
republic,  how  rich  and  complex  its  institu- 
tions! The  modern  presidency  does  not  repre- 
sent the  result  of  an  hour's  combat  between 
two  Samsons.  Forty  years  ago  the  eager 
aspirants  began  their  struggle.  A  great  com- 
pany of  young  men  all  over  the  land  deter- 
mined to  build  up  a  reputation  for  patriotism, 
statesmanship,  wisdom  and  character.  As  the 
time  for  selecting  a  president  approached,  the 

1 20 


The  Time  Element. 

people  passed  in  review  all  these  leaders. 
When  two  or  more  were  finally  chosen  out, 
there  followed  months  in  which  the  principles 
of  the  candidates  were  sifted  and  analyzed. 
"I  know  of  no  more  sublime  spectacle,"  said 
Stuart  Mill,  "than  the  election  of  the  ruler 
under  the  laws  of  the  republic.  If  the  voice  of 
the  people  is  ever  the  voice  of  God,  if  any  ruler 
rules  by  divine  right,  it  is  when  millions  of 
freemen,  after  long  consideration,  elect  one 
man  to  be  their  appointed  guide  and  leader." 
If  a  sinMe  hour  availed  for  Samson  to  settle 
the  question  of  his  sovereignty,  free  institu- 
tions ask  for  their  statesmen  to  have  the 
patience  of  years;  working,  they  must  also 
wait. 

With  long  patience  also  man  has  worked  and 
waited  as  he  has  toiled  upon  his  idea  of  reli- 
gion. Rude,  indeed,  man's  hasty  thoughts  of 
the  infinite.  In  early  days  the  sun  was  God's 
eye,  the  thunder  his  voice,  the  stroke  of  the 
earthquake  the  stroke  of  his  arm,  the  harvest 
indicated  his  pleasure,  the  pestilence  his  anger. 
In  such  an  age  the  pi'iest  and  philosopher 
taxed  their  genius  to  invent  methods  of  pre- 
serving the  friendship  and  avoiding  the  anger 
of  the  Infinite.  Daily  the  king  and  genei'al 
calculated  how  many  sheep  and  oxen  they  must 
slay  to  avoid  defeat  in  battle.      Daily  the  hus- 

121 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

bandman  and  farmer  calculated  how  many 
doves  and  lambs  must  be  killed  to  avert  blight 
from  the  vineyard  and  hailstoi'ms  from  the 
harvests.  Observing  that  when  the  king 
ascended  to  the  throne  the  slaves  put  their 
necks  under  his  heel  and  covered  their  bodies 
with  dust,  in  their  haste  the  priests  concluded 
that  by  degrading  man  God  would  be  exalted. 
Prostrating  themselves  in  dirt  and  rags,  men 
went  down  in  order  that  by  contrast  the  throne 
of  God  might  rise  up.  The  mud  was  made  thick 
upon  man's  brow  that  the  crown  upon  the 
brow  of  God  might  be  made  brilliant.  Out  of 
this  degrading  thought  grew  the  idea  that 
God  lived  and  ruled  for  his  own  gratification 
and  self-glory.  The  infinite  throne  was  un- 
veiled as  a  throne  of  infinite  self-aggrandize- 
ment. Slowly  it  was  perceived  that  the  par- 
ent who  makes  all  things  move  about  himself 
as  a  center,  ever  monopolizing  the  best  food, 
the  best  place,  the  best  things,  at  last  becomes 
a  monster  of  selfishness  and  suffers  an  awful 
desradation,  while  he  who  sacrifices  himself 
for  others  is  the  true  hero. 

At  last,  Christ  entered  the  earthly  scene 
with  his  golden  rule  and  his  new  command- 
ment  of  love.  He  unveiled  God,  not  as  desir- 
ing to  be  ministered  to,  but  as  ministering;  as 
being  rich,  yet  for  man's  sake  becoming  poor; 

122 


The  Time  Element. 

as  asking  little,  but  giving  much;  as  caring 
for  the  sparrow  and  lily;  as  waiting  upon  each 
beetle,  bird  and  beast,  and  caring  for  each  de- 
tail of  man's  life.  Slowly  the  word  God  in- 
creased in  richness.  Having  found  through 
his  telescope  worlds  so  distant  as  to  involve 
infinite  power,  man  emptied  the  idea  of  om- 
nipotence into  the  word  God;  finding  an 
infinite  wisdom  in  the  wealth  of  the  summers 
and  winters,  man  added  the  idea  of  omnisci- 
ence; noting  a  certain  upward  tendency  in 
society,  man  added  the  word,  "Providence;" 
gladdened  by  God's  mercy,  man  added  ideas  of 
forgiveness  and  love.  Slowly  the  word  grew. 
In  the  olden  time  people  entering  the  Acropo- 
lis cast  their  gifts  of  gold  and  silver  into  some 
vase.  Last  of  all  came  the  prince  to  empty  in 
jewels  and  flashing  gems  and  make  the  vase  to 
overflow.  Not  otherwise  Christ  emptied  vast 
wealth  of  meaning  into  those  words  called 
"conscience,"  "law,"  "love,"  "  vicarious  suf- 
fering," "immortality,"  "God."  Beautiful, 
indeed,  the  simplicity  of  Christ.  With  long 
patience,  man  waited  for  the  unveiling  of  the 
face  of  divine  love. 

To  all  patriots  and  Christian  men  who  seek 
to  use  occupation  and  profession  so  as  to  pro- 
mote the  world's  upward  growth  comes  the 
reflection   that   henceforth   society's    progress 

123 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

must  be  slow,  because  its  institutions  ai-e  high 
and  complex.  To-day  many  look  into  the 
future  with  shaded  eyes  of  terror.  In  the 
social  unrest  and  discontent  of  our  times  timid 
men  see  the  brewing  of  a  social  and  industinal 
storm.  In  their  alarm,  amateur  reformers 
bring  in  social  panaceas,  conceived  in  haste 
and  born  in  fear.  But  God  cannot  be  hurried. 
His  century  plants  cannot  be  foi'ced  to  blossom 
in  a  night.  No  reformer  can  be  too  zealous 
for  man's  progress,  though  he  can  be  too  im- 
patient. In  these  days,  when  civilization  has 
become  complex  and  the  fruitage  high,  those 
who  work  must  also  wait  and  with  patience 
endure. 

Multitudes  are  abroad  trying  to  settle  the 
labor  problem.  The  labor  problem  will  never 
be  settled  until  the  last  man  lies  in  the  grave- 
yard. Each  new  inventor  reopens  the  labor 
problem.  Men  were  contented  with  their 
wages  until  Gutenberg  invented  his  type  and 
made  books  possible;  then  straightway  every 
laborer  asked  an  increased  wage,  that  thoutrh 
he  died  ignorant  his  children  might  be  intelli- 
gent. When  society  had  readjusted  things 
and  man  had  obtauied  the  larger  wage,  Ark- 
wright  came,  inventing  his  now  loom,  Goodyear 
came  with  the  use  of  rubber,  and  straightway 
men   asked  a  new  wage  to  advantage   them- 

124 


The  Time  Element. 

selves  of  woolen  garments  and  rubber  goods  for 
miners  and  sailoi's.  On  the  morrow  15,000,000 
children  will  enter  the  schoolroom;  before  noon 
the  teacher  has  given  them  a  new  outlook  upon 
some  book,  some  picture,  some  convenience, 
some  custom.  Each  child  registers  the  pur- 
pose to  go  home  immediately  and  cry  to  his 
parent  for  that  book  or  pictui'e,  that  tool  or 
comfort.  When  the  parents  return  that  night 
the  labor  question  has  been  reopened  in  mill- 
ions of  homes. 

Intelligence  is  emancipating  man.  Ignorance 
is  a  constant  invitation  to  oppression.  So  long 
as  workmen  are  ignorant,  governments  will  op- 
press them;  wealth  will  oppress  them;  religious 
machinery  will  oppress  them.  Education  can 
make  man's  wrists  too  large  to  be  holden  of 
fetters.  In  the  autumn  the  forest  trees  tighten 
the  bark,  but  when  AjDril  sap  runs  through 
the  trees  the  trunk  swells,  the  bark  is  strained 
and  despite  all  protests  it  splits  and  cracks. 
The  splitting  of  the  bai-k  saves  the  life  of 
the  tree.  The  soft,  balmy  air  of  April  is  pass- 
ing over  the  woi-ld  and  succeeding  to  the  win- 
ter of  man's  discontent.  Old  ideas  are  being 
rent  asunder  and  old  institutions  are  being 
succeeded  by  new  ones.  God  is  abroad  destroy- 
ing that  he  may  save.  In  every  age  he  makes 
the  discontent   of  the  present  to  be  the  proph- 

125 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

ecy  of  the  higher  civilization.  Despite  all  the 
pessimists  and  the  croakers,  the  ideas  of  man- 
hood were  never  so  high  as  to-day,  and  the 
number  of  those  whose  hearts  are  knitted  in 
with  their  kind  was  never  so  large  nor  so  noble. 
The  movement  may  be  slow,  but  it  is  because 
the  social  organs  are  complex  and  intricate. 
With  long  patience  man  must  work  and  also 
wait. 

In  the  world  of  business,  also,  the  time  ele- 
ment exerts  striking  infiuence.  To-day  our 
land  is  filled  with  men  who  have  sown  the  seed 
of  thought  and  purpose,  but  whose  harvest  is 
of  so  high  a  quality  that  with  long  patience 
must  they  wait  for  the  fruition.  How  pathetic 
the  reverses  of  the  last  four  years.  The  con- 
dition of  our  land  as  to  the  overthrows  of  its 
leaders  answers  to  the  condition  in  Poland 
when  Kossuth  and  his  fellow  patriots,  ac- 
customed to  life's  comforts  and  its  luxuries,  went 
forth  penniless  exiles  to  accustom  themselves 
to  menial  toil,  to  hardship  and  extreme  pov- 
erty. His  heart  must  be  of  iron  who  can  be- 
hold those  who  have  been  leaders  of  the  indus- 
trial column,  who  now  stand  aside  and  see  the 
multitude  sweep  by.  Just  at  the  moment 
of  expected  victory  misfortune  overtook  them 
and  brought  their  structure  down  in  ruins. 
And   because  the  seed  they  have  sown  is  not 

126 


The  Time  Element. 

physical,  but  mental  and  moral,  the  fruition  is 
long  postponed. 

Walter  Scott  tells  the  story  of  a  wounded 
knight,  who  took  refuge  in  the  castle  of  a 
baron  that  proved  to  be  a  secret  enemy  and 
threw  the  knight  into  a  dungeon;  one  day 
in  his  cell  the  knight  heard  the  sound  of  dis- 
tant music  approaching.  Drawing  near  the 
slit  in  the  tower,  he  saw  the  flash  of  swords 
and  heard  the  tramp  of  marching  men.  At 
last  the  wounded  hero  realized  that  these  were 
his  own  troops,  marching  by  in  ignorance  of 
the  fact  that  the  lord  of  this  castle  was  also 
the  jailer  of  their  general.  While  the  knight 
tugged  at  his  chain,  lifted  up  his  voice  and 
cried  aloud,  his  troops  marched  on,  their  music 
drowning  out  his  cries.  Soon  the  banners 
passed  from  sight,  the  last  straggler  disap- 
peared behind  the  hill  and  the  captive  was  left 
alone.  The  brave  knight  died  in  his  dungeon, 
but  the  story  of  his  heroism  lived.  What  the 
knight  learned  in  suffering  the  poets  have 
taught  in  song.  The  captive  hero  has  a  per- 
manent place  in  civilization,  though  the  fore- 
sight of  his  influence  was  denied  him. 

Those  whose  harvest  is  delayed  are  a  great 
company.  Elizabeth  Barrett  Browning  ex- 
claiming, "I  have  not  used  half  the  powers  God 
has  given  me;"  poets  dying  ere  the  day  was 

127 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

half  done;  the  inventors  and  reformers  denied 
their  ideals;  obscure  and  humble  workmen — the 
mechanic  who  emancipates  man  by  his  ma- 
chine; the  artisan  whose  conveniences  are  end- 
less benefactions  to  our  homes ;  the  smith  whose 
honest  anchor  holds  the  ship  in  time  of  storm 
— all  these  labored  and  died  without  seeing  the 
fruitage,  but  other  men  entered  into  their 
labors. 

To  parents  who  have  passed  through  all  the 
thunder  of  life's  battle  and  stand  at  the  close 
of  life's  day  discouraged  because  children  are 
unripe,  thoughtless  and  immature;  to  publi- 
cists and  teachers,  sowing  God's  precious  seed, 
but  denied  its  harvests;  to  individuals  seeking 
to  perfect  their  character  within  themselves 
comes  this  thought — that  character  is  a  harvest 
so  rich  as  to  ask  for  long  waiting  and  the 
courage  of  far-off  results.  Nature  can  perfect 
physical  processes  in  twenty  years,  but  long 
time  is  asked  for  teaching  the  arm  skill,  the 
tongue  its  grace  of  speech,  to  clothe  reason 
with  sweetness  and  light,  to  cast  error  out  of 
the  judgment,  to  teach  the  will  hardness  and 
the  heart  hope  and  endurance. 

Four  hundred  years  passed  by  before 
the  capstone  was  placed  upon  the  Cathe- 
dral of  Cologne,  but  no  trouble  requires 
such     patient     toil      as      the     structure      of 

128 


The  Time  Element. 

manhood.  For  complexity  and  beauty  noth- 
ing is  comparable  to  character.  Great  artists 
spend  years  upon  a  single  picture.  With  a 
touch  here  and  a  touch  there  they  approach  it, 
and  when  a  long  period  hath  passed  they  bring 
it  to  completion.  Yet  all  the  beauty  of  paint- 
ings, all  the  grace  of  statues,  all  the  grandeur 
of  cathedrals  are  as  nothing  compared  to  the 
painting  of  that  inner  picture,  the  chiseling 
of  that  inner  manhood,  the  adornment  of  that 
inner  temple,  that  is  scarcely  begun  when  the 
physical  life  ends.  How  majestic  the  full  dis- 
closure of  an  ideal  manhood!  "With  what 
patience  must  man  wait  for  its  completion! 
Here  lies  the  hope  of  immortality;  it  does  not 
yet  appear  what  man  shall  be. 


129 


The  Supremacy  of  Heart  Over 
Brain. 


"Out  of  the  heart  are  the  issues  of  life." — Prov.  IV.  2J. 

"  For  out  of  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness." 

—Paul. 

"  Heart  is  a  word  that  the  Bible  is  full  of.  Brain,  I  believe, 
is  not  mentioned  in  Scripture.  Heart,  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is 
currently  understood,  suggests  the  warm  center  of  human  life  or 
any  other  life.  When  we  say  of  a  man  that  he  *  has  a  good 
deal  of  heart '  we  mean  that  he  is  'summery.'  When  you  come 
near  him  it  is  like  getting  around  to  the  south  side  of  a  house  in 
midwinter  and  letting  the  sunshine  feel  of  you,  and  watching  the 
snow  slide  off  the  twigs  and  the  tear-drops  swell  on  the  points  of 
pendant  icicles.  Brain  counts  for  a  good  deal  more  to-day  than 
heart  does.  It  will  win  more  applause  and  earn  a  larger  salary. 
Thought  is  driven  with  a  curb-bit  lest  it  quicken  into  a  pace  and 
widen  out  into  a  swing  that  transcends  the  dictates  of  good  form. 
Exuberance  is  in  bad  odor.  Appeals  to  the  heart  are  not  thought 
to  be  quite  in  good  taste.  The  current  demand  is  for  ideas — not 
taste.  1  asked  a  member  of  my  church  the  other  day  whether 
he  thought  a  certain  friend  of  his  who  attends  a  certain  church 
and  is  exceptionally  brainy  was  really  entering  into  sympathy 
with  religious  things.  'Oh,  no,'  he  said,  'he  likes  to  hear 
preaching  because  he  has  an  active  mind,  and  the  way  that  things 
are  spread  out  in  front  of  him.'  In  the  old  days  of  the  church 
a  sermon  used  to  convert  3,000  men  ;  now  that  temperature  is 
down  it  takes  3,000  sermons  to  convert  one  man." 

— CharUi  H.  Parkhunt. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Supremacy  of  Heart  Over 
Brain. 

To-day  there  has  sprung  up  a  rivalry  be- 
tween brain  and  heart.  Men  are  coming  to 
idolize  intellect.  Brilliancy  is  placed  before 
goodness  and  intellectual  dexterity  above 
fidelity.  Intellect  walks  the  earth  a  crowned 
king,  while  affection  and  sentiment  toil  as  bond 
slaves.  Doubtless  our  scholars,  with  the  natural 
bias  for  their  own  class,  are  largely  respon- 
sible for  this  worship  of  intellectuality.  When 
the  historian  calls  the  roll  of  earth's  favorite 
sons  he  causes  these  immortals  to  stand  forth 
an  army  of  great  thinkers,  including  philoso- 
phers, scientists,  poets,  jurists,  generals.  The 
great  minds  are  exalted,  the  great  hearts  are 
neglected. 

Artists  also  have  united  with  authors  for 
strengthening  this  idolatry  of  intellect.  One 
of  the  great  pictures  in  the  French  Academy 
of  Design  assembles  the  immortals  of  all  ages. 
Having  erected  a  tribunal  in  the  center  of  the 
scene,  Delaroche  places  Intellect  upon  the 
throne.  Also,  when  the  sons  of  genius  are  as- 
sembled about  that  glowing  center,  all  are  seen 

"^33 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

to  be  great  thinkers.  There  stand  Democritus, 
a  thinker  about  invisible  atoms;  Euclid,  a 
thinker  about  invisible  lines  and  angles;  New- 
ton, a  thinker  about  an  invisible  force  named 
gravity;  La  Place,  a  thinker  about  the  invisi- 
ble law  that  sweeps  suns  and  stars  forward  to- 
ward an  unseen  goal. 

The  artist  also  remembers  the  inventors 
whose  useful  thoughts  blossom  into  engines 
and  ships;  statesmen  whose  wise  thoughts 
blossom  into  codes  and  constitutions;  speak- 
ers whose  true  thoughts  blossom  into  orations, 
and  artists  whose  beautiful  thoughts  appear  as 
pictures.  At  this  assembly  of  the  immortals 
great  thinkers  touch  and  jostle.  But  if  the 
great  minds  are  remembered,  no  chair  is 
made  ready  for  the  great  hearts.  He 
who  lingers  long  before  this  painting  will 
believe  that  brain  is  king  of  the  world; 
that  great  thinkers  are  the  sole  architects  of 
civilization;  that  science  is  the  only  provi- 
dence for  the  future;  that  God  himself  is  sim- 
ply an  infinite  brain,  an  eternal  logic  engine, 
cold  as  steel,  weaving  endless  ideas  about  life 
and  art,  about  nature  and  man. 

But  the  throne  of  the  universe  is  mercy 
and  not  marble;  the  name  of  the  world-ruler  is 
Great  Heart,  rather  than  Crystalline  Mind, 
and  God   is  the  Eternal  Friend  who  pulsates 

U4 


The  Supremacy  or'  Heart  Over  Brain. 

out  through  his  world  those  forms  of  love 
called  reforms,  philanthi'opies,  social  bounties 
and  benefactions,  even  as  the  ocean  pulsates 
its  life-giving  tides  into  every  bay  and  creek 
and  river.  The  springs  of  civilization  are  not 
in  the  mind.  For  the  individual  and  the  state, 
"out  of  the  heart  are  the  issues  of  life." 

What  intellect  can  dream,  only  the  heart 
realizes!  John  Cabot's  mind  did,  indeed,  blaze 
a  pathway  through  the  New  England  forest. 
But  with  burning  hearts  and  iron  will  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  loved  liberty,  law  and  learn- 
ing, and  soon  they  broadened  the  path  into  a 
highway  for  commerce,  turned  tepees  into 
temples  and  made  the  forests  a  land  of  vine- 
yards and  villages.  Mind  is  the  beginning  of 
civilization,  but  the  ends  and  fruitage  thereof 
are  of  the  heart. 

Christopher  Wren's  intellect  wrought  out 
the  plan  for  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  But  all 
impotent  to  realize  themselves,  these  plans, 
lying  in  the  King's  council  chamber  grew 
yellow  with  age  and  thick  with  dust.  One  day 
a  great  heart  stood  forth  before  the  people  of 
London,  pointing  them  to  an  unseen  God, 
"from  whom  cometh  every  good  and  perfect 
gift,"  and,  plying  men  with  the  generosity  of 
God,  he  asked  gifts  of  gold  and  silver  and 
houses  and  lands,  that  England  might  erect  a 

^35 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

temple  worthy  of  him  < '  whom  the  heaven  of 
heavens  could  not  contain,"  The  mind  of  a 
great  architect  had  created  a  plan  and  a  "blue- 
print," but  eager  hearts  inspiring  earnest 
hands  turned  the  plan  into  granite  and  hung 
in  the  air  a  dome  of  marble. 

Thus  all  the  great  achievements  for  civil- 
ization are  the  achievements  of  heart.  What 
we  call  the  fine  arts  are  only  i^ed-hot  ingots  of 
passion  cooled  off  into  visible  shape.  All  high 
music  is  emotion  gushing  forth  at  those  faucets 
named  musical  notes.  As  unseen  vapors  cool 
into  those  visible  forms  named  snowfiakes,  so 
Gothic  enthusiasms  cooled  off   into  cathedrals. 

Our  art  critics  speak  of  the  eight  great 
paintings  of  history.  Each  of  these  master- 
pieces does  but  represent  a  holy  passion  flung 
forth  upon  a  canvas.  The  reformation  also 
was  not  achieved  by  intellect  nor  scholarship. 
Erasmus  represents  pure  mind.  Yet  his  in- 
tellect was  cold  as  winter  sunshine  that  falls 
upon  a  snowdrift  and  dazzles  the  eyes  with 
brightness,  yet  is  impotent  to  unlock  the 
streams,  or  bore  a  hole  through  the  snow- 
drifts, or  release  the  roots  from  the  grip  of  ice 
and  frost,  or  cover  the  land  with  waving  har- 
vests. Powerless  as  winter  sunshine  were 
Erasmus'    thoughts.      But    what    the    scholar 

136 


The  Supremacy  of  Heart  Over  Brain. 

could  not  do,  Luther,  the  great  heart,  wrought 
easily. 

Thus  all  the  reforms  represent  passions  and 
enthusiasms.  That  citadel  called  "The  Divine 
Right  of  Kings  "  was  not  overthrown  by  col- 
leges with  books  and  pamphlets.  It  was  the 
pulse-beats  of  the  heart  of  the  people  that 
pounded  down  the  Bastille.  Ideas  of  the  in- 
iquity of  slavery  floated  through  our  land  for 
three  centuries,  yet  the  slave  pen  and  auction 
block  still  cursed  our  land.  At  last  an  en- 
thusiasm for  man  as  man  and  a  great  passion 
for  the  poor  stood  behind  these  ideas  of  human 
brotherhood,  and  as  powder  stands  behind  the 
bullet,  flinging  forth  its  weapons,  slavery  per- 
ished before  the  onslaught  of  the  heart. 

The  men  whose  duty  it  was  to  follow  the 
line  of  battle  and  bury  our  dead  soldiers  tell 
us  that  in  the  dying  hour  the  soldiex^'s  hand 
unclasped  his  weapon  and  reached  for  the 
inner  pocket  to  touch  some  faded  letter,  some 
little  keepsake,  some  likeness  of  wife  or  mother. 
This  pathetic  fact  tells  us  that  soldiers  have 
won  their  battles  not  by  holding  before  the 
mind  some  abstract  thought  about  the  rights 
of  man.  The  philosopher  did,  indeed,  teach  the 
theory,  and  the  general  marked  out  the  line 
of  attack  or  defense,  but  it  was  love  of  home 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

and  God  and  native  land  that  entered  into  the 
soldier  and  made  his  arm  invincible.  [^_Baek  of 
the  emancipation  proclamation  stands  a  great 
heart  named  Lincoln.  Back  of  Africa's  new 
^/  life  stands  a  great  heart  named  Livingstone. 
Back  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Muunt  stands 
earth's  greatest  heart — man's  Savior.  Christ's 
truth  is  enlightening  man's  ignorance,  but 
his  tears,  falling  upon  our  earth,  are  washing 
away  man's  sin  and  woe.  \ 

Impotent  the  intellect  without  the  support 
of  the  heart.  How  thickly  are  the  shores  of 
time  strewn  with  those  forms  of  wreckage 
called  great  thoughts.  In  those  far-off  days 
when  the  overseers  of  the  Egyptian  King 
scourged  80,000  slaves  forth  to  their  task  of 
building  a  pyramid,  a  great  mind  discovered 
the  use  of  steam.  Intellect  achieved  an  instru- 
ment for  lifting  blocks  of  granite  into  proper 
place.  In  that  hour  thought  made  possible  the 
freedom  of  innumerable  slaves.  But  the  heart 
of  the  tyrant  held  no  love  for  his  bondsmen. 
The  poor  seemed  of  less  worth  than  cattle. 
Because  the  King's  heart  felt  no  woes  to  be 
cured,  his  hand  pushed  away  the  engine.  A 
great  thought  was  there,  but  not  the  kindly 
impulse  to  use  it.  Then,  full  2,000  years 
passed  over  our  earth.  At  last  came  an  era 
when  man's  heart  journeyed  forward  with  his 


The  Supremacy  of  Heart  Over  Brain. 

mind.  Then  the  woes  of  miners  and  the 
world's  burden-bearers  filled  the  ears  of  James 
Watt  with  torment,  and  his  sympathetic  heart 
would  not  let  him  stay  until  he  had  fashioned 
his  redemptive  tool. 

For  generations,  also,  the  thoughts  of  lib- 
erty waited  for  the  heart  to  re-enforce  them 
and  make  them  practical  in  institutions.  Two 
thousand  years  before  the  ei'a  of  Cromwell  and 
Hampden,  Grecian  philosophers  wrought  out 
a  full  statement  for  the  republic  and  individual 
liberty.  The  right  of  life  and  liberty  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness  were  truths  clearly  per- 
ceived by  Plato  and  Pericles.  But  the  heart 
loved  luxury  and  soft,  silken  refinements,  and 
Grecian  philosophers  in  their  palaces  refused 
to  let  their  slaves  go. 

Wide,  indeed,  the  gulf  separating  our  age 
of  kindness  from  Cicero's  age  of  cruelty!  The 
difference  is  almost  wholly  a  difference  of 
heart.  This  age  has  oratory  and  wisdom,  and 
so  had  Cicero's;  this  age  has  poetry  and  art, 
and  so  had  that;  but  our  age  has  heart  and 
sympathy,  and  Cicero's  had  not.  Caesar's 
mind  was  the  mind  of  a  scholar,  but  his  hands 
were  red  with  the  blood  of  a  half-million  men 
slain  in  unjust  wars.  Augustus  loved  refine- 
ment, literature  and  music.  He  assembled  at 
his  table  the  scholars  of  a  nation,  yet  his  cul- 

^:i9 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

ture  did  not  forbid  the  slaying  of  ten  thousand 
gladiators  at  his  various  garden  parties. 

We  admire  Pliny's  literary  style.  One 
evening  Pliny  returned  home  from  the  funeral 
of  the  wife  of  a  friend  and  sat  down  to  write 
that  friend  a  note  of  gratitude  for  having  so 
arranged  the  gladiatorial  spectacle  as  to  make 
the  funeral  service  pass  off  quite  pleasantly. 
For  that  age  of  intellect  was  also  an  age  of 
blood;  the  era  of  art  and  luxury  was  also  an 
era  of  cruelty  and  crime.  The  intellect  lent 
a  shining  luster  to  the  era  of  Augustus,  but 
because  it  was  intellect  only  it  was  gilt  and 
not  gold.  Had  the  heart  re-enforced  the  in- 
tellect with  sympathy  and  justice  the  age  of 
Augustus  might  have  been  an  era  golden,  in- 
deed, and  also  i^erpetual. 

Great  men  capitalize  the  impotency  of  unsup- 
ported intellect.  Ten-talent  men  have  often 
known  more  than  they  would  do.  The  children 
of  genius  have  not  always  lived  up  to  their  moral 
light.  Burns'  mind  ran  swiftly  forward,  but  his 
will  followed  afar  off.  If  the  poet's  forehead  was 
in  the  clouds,  his  feet  were  in  the  mire.  How 
noble,  also,  Byron's  thoughts,  but  how  mean 
his  life!  Goethe  uttered  the  wisdom  of  a  sage, 
as  did  Rousseau,  yet  their  deeds  were  often 
those  we  would  expect  from  a  slave  with  a  low 
brow.     Even  of  Shakespeare,  it  is  said  in  the 

140 


The  Supremacy  of  Heart  Over  Brain. 

morning  he  polished  his  sonnets,  while  at  mid- 
night he  poached  game  from  a  neighboring 
estate.  Our  era  bestows  unstinted  admiration 
upon  the  essays  of  Lord  Bacon.  How  noble 
his  aphorisms!  How  petty  his  envy  and 
avarice!  What  scholarship  was  his,  and  what 
cunning  also!  With  what  splendor  of  argu- 
ment does  he  plead  for  the  advancement  of 
learning  and  liberty!  With  what  meanness 
does  he  take  bribes  from  the  rich  against  the 
poor!  His  mind  seems  like  a  palace  of  marble 
with  splendid  galleries  and  library  and  ban- 
queting hall,  yet  in  this  palace  the  spider  spins 
its  web  and  vermin  make  the  foundations  to 
be  a  noisome  place. 

In  all  ages  also  the  intellect  of  the  com- 
mon people  has  discerned  truth  and  light  that 
the  will  has  refused  to  fulfill.  Generations 
ago  society  discovered  the  doctrine  of  in- 
dustry and  integrity,  and  yet  thousands  of  in- 
dividuals still  prefer  to  steal  or  beg  or  starve 
rather  than  work.  For  centuries  the  work  of 
moralists  and  public  instructors  has  not  been 
so  much  the  making  known  new  truth  as  the 
inspiring  men  to  do  a  truth  already  known. 
As  of  old,  so  now,  the  word  is  nigh  man,  even 
in  his  mouth,  for  enabling  society  to  lift  every 
social  burden,  right  every  social  wrong,  turn 
each  rookery  into  a  house,  make  each  market- 

141 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

place  wealth,  make  every  home  happiness, 
make  every  child  a  scholar,  a  patriot  and  a 
Christian.  In  Solomon's  day  wisdom  stood  in 
the  corner  of  the  streets  but  man  would  not 
regard,  and  the  city  perished.  Should  the 
heart  now  join  the  intellect,  man's  feet  would 
swiftly  find  these  paths  that  lead  to  prosperity 
and  perfect  peace. 

Fascinating,  indeed,  the  question  how  feel- 
ing and  sentiment  control  conduct  and  char- 
acter. Modern  machinery  has  thrown  light 
upon  the  problems  of  the  soul.  The  engineer 
finds  that  his  locomotive  will  not  run  itself, 
but  waits  for  the  steam  to  pound  upon  the 
piston.  The  great  ships  also  are  becalmed 
until  the  trade  winds  come  to  beat  upon  the 
sails.  Informed  by  these  physical  facts,  we  now 
see  a  noble  thought  or  ambition  or  social  ideal 
is  a  mechanism  that  will  not  work  itself,  but 
asks  the  enthusiastic  heart  to  lend  power 
divine.  Some  of  earth's  greatest  oratoi's,  like 
Patrick  Henry,  have  been  unlearned  men,  but 
no  orator  has  ever  fallen  short  of  being  an 
enthusiastic  man.  A  generation  ago  there 
appeared  in  Paris  one  whose  voice  was  counted 
the  most  perfect  voice  in  Europe.  Musical 
critics  gave  unstinted  praise  to  the  purity  of 
tone  and  accuracy  of  execution.  Yet  in  a  few 
weeks  the  audiences  had  dwindled  to  a  handful, 

142 


The  Supremacy  of  Heart  Over  Brain. 

and  in  a  few  years  the  singer's  name  was  for- 
gotten. Obscurity  overtook  the  singer  be- 
cause there  was  no  heart  behind  the  voice 
and  so  the  tones  became  metallic.  Con- 
trariwise, the  history  of  Jenny  Lind 
contains  a  letter  to  a  friend  in  Sweden,  in 
which  the  singer  writes:  "Oh,  that  T  may  live 
two  years  longer  and  be  peinnitted  to  save 
enough  money  to  complete  my  orphans'  home!  " 
As  the  sun's  warm  beams  lend  a  soft  blush  to 
the  rose  and  pulsate  the  crimson  tides  through 
to  the  uttermost  edge  of  each  petal,  so  a  great, 
loving  sympathy,  sang  and  sighed,  thrilled 
and  throbbed  through  the  tones  of  the  Swed- 
ish singer,  and  ravished  the  hearts  of  the  peo- 
ple and  made  her  name  immortal. 

History  portrays  many  men  of  giant 
minds  whose  intellect  could  not  redeem  them 
from  aimlessness  and  obscurity.  Not  until 
some  divine  enthusiasm  descended  upon 
tbe  mind  and  baptized  it  with  heroic  action 
did  these  men  find  themselves.  To  that 
young  patrician,  Saul,  journeying  to  Da- 
mascus, came  the  heavenly  vision,  and 
the  new  impulse  of  the  heart  made  his  cold 
mind  warm,  lent  wings  to  his  slow  feet,  made 
all  his  days  powerful,  made  his  soul  the  center 
of  an  immense  activity.  This  glowing  heart  of 
Paul  explains  for  us  the  fact  that  he  achieved 

143 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

freedom  of  thought  and  speech,  endured  the 
stones  with  which  he  was  bruised,  the  stocks 
in  which  he  was  bound,  the  mobbings  with 
which  he  was  mutilated;  explains  also  his 
eloquence,  known  and  unrecorded;  explains 
his  faith  and  fortitude,  his  heroism  in  death. 
And  not  only  has  the  zeal  of  the  heart 
made  strong  men  stronger,  turned  weak  men 
into  giants,  lent  the  soldier  his  conquering 
courasfe  and  lent  the  scholar  a  stainless  life  — 
to  men  whose  will  has  been  made  weak  by  in- 
dulgence, the  new  love  has  come  to  redeem 
intellect  and  will  from  the  bondage  of  habit. 
No  one  who  ever  heard  John  B.  Gough  can 
forget  his  marvelous  eloquence,  his  wit  and  his 
pathos,  his  scintillating  humor,  his  inimitable 
dramatisms.  He  did  not  have  the  polished  bril- 
liancy of  Everett  or  the  elegant  scholarship  of 
Phillips,  and  yet  when  these  numbered  thous- 
ands of  admirers,  Gough  numbered  his  tens  of 
thousands.  In  his  autobi  ography  this  man  tells 
us  to  what  sad  straits  passion  had  bi'ought  him; 
how  he  reflected  upon  the  injury  he  was  doing 
himself  and  others,  only  to  find  that  his  reflec- 
tions and  resolutions  snapped  like  cobwebs  be- 
fore the  onslaught  of  temptation.  One  night 
the  young  bookbinder  drifted  into  a  little 
meeting  and,  buttoning  his  seedy  overcoat  to 
conceal    his    rags,     in     some  way    he    found 

144 


The  Supremacy  of  Heart  Over  Brain. 

himself  upon  his  feet  and  began  to  speak. 
The  addi'ess  that  proved  a  pleasure  to 
others  was  a  revelation  to  himself.  For  the 
first  time  Gough  tasted  the  joys  of  moving 
men  and  mastering  them  for  good.  Within  a 
week  that  love  of  public  speech  and  useful  serv- 
ice had  kindled  his  mental  faculties  into  a 
creative  glow.  The  new  and  higher  love  of 
the  heart  consumed  the  lower  love  of  the  body, 
just  as  the  sun  melts  manacles  of  ice  from  a 
man's  wrist. 

History  is  full  of  these  transformations 
wrought  by  the  heart.  It  was  a  new  enthusi- 
asm that  changed  Augustine  the  epicurean  into 
Auffustine  the  church  father.  It  was  a  new 
enthusiasm  that  turned  Howard  the  pleasure- 
lover  into  Howard  the  prison-reformer.  It  was 
a  glowing  heart  that  lent  power  to  Mazziniand 
Garibaldi  and  gave  Italy  her  new  hope  and 
liberty.  Indeed,  the  history  of  each  life  is  the 
history  of  its  new  loves.  The  enthusiasms  are 
beacon  lights  that  glow  in  the  highway  along 
which  the  soul  journeys  forward.  When  the 
hero's  ships  were  becalmed  Virgil  tells  us  that 
iEolus  struck  the  hollow  mountain  with  his  staff 
and  straightway,  released  from  their  caves,  the 
winds  went  forth  to  stir  the  waves  and  smite 
upon  the  sails  and  sweep  the  becalmed  ship  on 
toward  its  harbor.     Oh,  beautiful  story,    tell- 

H5 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

ing  us  how  Christ  touches  the  heart  with  his 
regenerating  hand  to  release  the  soul's  deeper 
convictions,  to  sweep  man  forward  to  the 
heavenly  haven  ! 

If  sentiment  working  in  sound  can  make 
music;  if  working  in  colors,  etc.,  it  can  fill 
galleries  with  statues  and  pictures;  if  senti- 
ment working  in  litei'ature  can  produce  poems, 
it  should  not  seem  strange  that  the  heart,  with 
its  affections,  furnishes  the  key  of  knowledge 
and  wisdom.  The  time  was  when  authors  were 
supposed  to  think  out  their  truths ;  now  we  know 
that  the  greatest  truths  are  felt  out.  Matthew 
Arnold  said  that  mere  knowledge  is  cold  as  an 
icicle,  but  once  experienced  and  touched  with 
noble  feelings  truth  becomes  sweetness  and 
light.  This  author  thought  that  the  first 
requisite  for  a  good  writer  was  a  sensitive  and 
sympathetic  heart. 

Even  in  Shakespeare  the  springs  of  genius 
were  not  in  the  mind.  The  heart  of  our  great- 
est poet  was  so  sensitive  that  he  could  not  see 
an  apple  blossom  without  hoping  that  no  un- 
timely frost  would  nip  it;  could  not  see  the 
clusters  turn  purple  under  the  autumn  sun 
without  hoping  that  hailstones  would  not  pound 
off  the  rich  clusters;  could  not  see  a  youth 
leave  his  home  to  seek  his  fortune  without 
praying   that  he  would   return  to  his  mother 

146 


The  Supremacy  of  Heart  Over  Brain. 

laden  with  rich  treasures;  could  not  see 
a  bride  no  down  the  aisle  of  the  church  without 
sending  up  a  petition  that  many  years  might 
intervene  before  death's  hand  should  touch  her 
white  brow.  Sympathy  in  the  heart  so  fed  the 
springs  of  thought  in  the  mind  that  it  was  easy 
for  the  poet  to  put  himself  in  another's  place. 
And  so,  while  his  pen  wrote,  his  heart  felt  itself 
to  be  the  king  and  also  his  servant,  to  be  the  mer- 
chant and  also  his  clerk,  to  be  the  general  and 
also  his  soldier.  He  saw  the  assassin  drawing 
near  the  thi'one  with  a  dagger  beneath  his  cloak; 
he  went  forth  with  King  Lear  to  shiver  be- 
neath the  wintry  blasts;  he  rejoiced  with  Rosa- 
lind and  wept  with  Hamlet,  and  there  was  no 
joy  or  grief  or  woe  or  wrong  that  ever  touched 
a  human  heart  that  he  did  not  perfectly  feel 
and,  therefore,  perfectly  describe.  For  depth 
of  mind  begins  with  depth  of  heart.  The 
greatest  writers  are  primarily  seers  and  only 
incidentally  thinkers.  As  of  old,  so  now,  for 
a  thousand  thinkers  there  is  only  one  great 
seer. 

Having  affirmed  the  influence  of  the  heart 
upon  the  intellect  and  scholarship,  let  us  has- 
ten to  confess  that  the  heart  determines  the 
religious  belief  and  creed.  It  is  often  said  that 
belief  is  a  matter  of  pure  reason  determined 
wholly  by  evidence.     And  doubtless  it  is  true 

H7 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

that  in  approaching  mathematical  proofs  man 
is  to  discharge  his  mind  of  all  color.  That  two 
and  two  are  four  is  true  for  the  poet  and  the 
miser,  for  the  peaceable  man  not  less  than  the 
litigious.  But  of  the  other  truths  of  life  it  is 
a  fact  that  with  the  heart  man  believes.  We 
approach  wheat  with  scales,  we  measure 
silk  with  a  yai'dstick;  we  test  the  painting 
with  taste  and  imagination,  and  the  symphony 
with  the  sense  of  melody;  motives  and  actions 
are  tested  by  conscience;  we  approach  the  stars 
with  a  telescope,  while  purity  of  heart  is  the 
glass  by  which  we  see  God.  The  scales  that 
are  useful  in  the  laboratory  are  utterly  value- 
less in  the  art  gallery.  The  scientific  faculty 
that  fits  Spencer  for  studying  nature  unfits  him 
for  studying  art.  In  his  old  age  Huxley,  the 
scientist,  wrote  an  essay  forty  pages  long  to 
prove  that  man  was  more  beautiful  than 
woman.  Imagine  some  Tyndall  approaching 
the  transfiguration  of  Raphael  to  scrape  off  the 
colors  and  test  them  with  acid  and  alkali  for 
finding  out  the  proportion  of  blue  and  crimson 
and  gold.  These  are  the  methods  that  would 
give  the  village  paint-grinder  precedency  above 
genius  it  elf. 

In  1837  two  boys  entered  Faneuil  hall  and 
heard  Wendell  Phillips'  defense  of  Lovejoy. 
One  youth  was  an  English  visitor  who  saw  the 

148 


The  Supremacy  of  Heart  Over  Brain. 

portraits  of  Otis  and  Hancock,  yet  saw  them 
not;  heard  the  words  of  Phillips,  yet  heard 
them  not,  and  because  his  heart  was  in  London 
believed  not  unto  patriotism.  But  the  blood 
of  Adams  was  in  the  veins  of  the  other  youth. 
He  thought  of  Samuel  Adams,  who  heard  the 
firing  at  Lexington  and  exclaimed  :  "What  a 
glorious  morning  this  is!"  He  thought  of  John 
Adams  and  his  love  of  liberty.  He  thought  of 
the  old  man  eloquent,  John  Quincy  Adams,  in 
the  Halls  of  Congress,  and  as  he  listened  to 
the  burning  words  of  the  speaker,  tears  filled 
his  eyes  and  pride  filled  his  soul.  It  was  his 
native  land.  With  his  heart  he  believed  unto 
patriotism. 

What  the  man  is  determines  largely 
what  his  intellect  thinks  about  God.  When 
the  heart  is  narrow,  harsh  and  rigorous 
its  theology  is  despotic  and  cruel.  When  the 
heart  grows  kindly,  sympathetic  and  of  autum- 
nal richness,  it  emphasizes  the  sympathy  and 
love  of  God.  Each  man  paints  his  own  picture 
of  God.  The  heart  lends  the  pigments.  Souls 
full  of  sweetness  and  light  fill  the  divine  por- 
ti'ait  with  the  lineaments  of  love.  For  with 
the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness. 

Happy,  indeed,  our  age,  in  that  the  heart  is 
now  beginning  to  color  our  civilization.  Vast, 
indeed,  the  influence  of  library  and  lecture-hall, 

149 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

of  gallery  and  store  and  market-place,  but  the 
most  significant  fact  of  our  day  is  that  sym- 
pathy is  baptizing  our  industries  and  institu- 
tions with  new  effort.  Intellect  has  lent  the 
modern  youth  instruments  many  and  powerful. 
Inventive  thought  has  lent  fire  to  man's  forge, 
tools  for  his  hands,  books  for  his  reading, 
has  lent  arts,  sciences,  institutions.  The 
modern  youth  stands  forth  in  the  aspect 
of  the  Roman  conqueror  to  whom  the  citi- 
zens went  forth  to  bestow  gifts,  one  taking  his 
chariot,  one  leading  a  steed,  the  children  scat- 
tering flowers  in  the  way,  young  men  and 
maidens  taking  the  hei'o's  name  upon  their 
lips.  Unfortunately  multitudes  have  declined 
those  high  gifts,  turning  away  from  the  open 
door  of  the  schoolhouse  and  college;  many 
young  feet  have  crossed  the  threshold  of 
the  saloon.  Having  entered  our  museum 
or  art-gallery,  multitudes  enter  places  of  evil 
resort. 

Despising  the  opportunity  offered  by  music 
or  eloquence,  by  book  or  newspaper,  by  trade 
and  profession,  many  choose  sloth  and  self- 
indulgence.  These  needy  millions,  blinded 
with  sin  and  ignorance,  stand  forth  as  a  great 
opportunity  for  loving  hearts.  Sympathy  is 
making  beautiful  the  pathway  of  knowledge, 
that  young  hearts  may  be  allured  along  the 

150 


The  Supremacy  of  Heart  Over  Brain. 

shining  way.  By  a  thousand  arts  and  de- 
vices young  people  of  refinement  and  cul- 
ture are  founding  centers  of  light  among  the 
poor.  The  opportunity  that  William  the  Silent 
found  in  the  starving  millions  of  Holland;  that 
Garrison  found  in  the  miserable  slaves  of  the 
South;  that  Livingstone  found  in  Africa,  the 
modern  hero  is  finding  in  the  tenement-house 
district.  Through  sympathy  a  new  hope  is 
entering  into  all  classes  of  society. 

The  heart  is  also  coloring  industry.  This 
year  it  is  said  that  more  than  a  score  of  great 
industrial  institutions  in  our  country  have,  to 
the  factory,  added  gymnasium,  recreation-hall, 
schoolroom,  library,  free  musicals  and  lectures. 
The  intellect  has  failed  to  solve  the  social 
problems  by  giving  allopathic  doses  from  Poor 
Richard's  Almanac.  Impotent  also  those 
dreamers  who  have  insisted  that  society  must 
have  socialism — either  God's  or  the  devil's.  Im- 
potent those  who,  dui'ing  the  past  week,  have 
proposed  to  cure  economic  ills  by  spitting  the 
heads  of  tyrants  upon  bayonets.  But  what  foi'ce 
and  law  cannot  do  is  slowly  being  done  by 
sympathy  and  good-will.  The  heart  is 
taking  the  rigor  out  of  toil,  the  drudgery 
out  of  service,  the  cruelty  out  of  laws, 
harshness  out  of  theology,  injustice  out  of  pol- 
itics.    Love  has  done  much.     The  social  gains 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

of  the  future  are  to  be  to  the  gradual  progress 
of  sympathy  and  love. 

Unto  man  who  goes  through  life  working, 
weeping,  laughing,  loving,  comes  the  heart 
believing  unto  immortality.  For  reason  oft 
the  immortal  hope  bui-ns  low  and  the  stars  dim 
and  disappear,  but  for  the  heart,  never  ! 
Scientists  tell  us  matter  is  indestructible.  And 
the  heart  nourishes  an  immortal  hope  that 
no  doubt  can  quench,  no  argument  destroy,  no 
misfortune  annihilate.  Comforting,  indeed,  for 
reasons,  the  arguments  of  Socrates  that  life 
survives  death.  After  the  death  of  his  be- 
loved daughter  Tullia,  Cicero  outlined  argu- 
ments which  have  consoled  the  mind  of  multi- 
tudes. But  in  the  hour  of  darkness  and 
blackness,  for  a  man  to  put  out  upon  Death's 
dark  sea,  upon  the  argument  of  Cicero,  is  like 
some  Columbus  committing  himself  to  a  single 
plank  in  the  hope  of  discovering  an  unseen 
continent. 

In  these  dark  hours  the  heart  speaks.  In  the 
poet's  vision,  to  blind  Homer,  falling  into  the 
bog,  torn  by  the  thorns  and  thickets  and  lost 
in  the  forest  and  the  night,  came  the  young 
goddess,  the  daughter  of  Light  and  Beauty,  to 
take  the  sightless  poet  by  the  hand  and  lead 
him  up  the  heavenly  heights.  Sometimes  in- 
tellect seems  sightless  and  wanders  lost  in  the 

152 


The  Supremacy  of  Heart  Over  Brain. 

maze.  Then  comes  the  heart  to  lead  man  along 
the  upward  path.  For  even  in  its  dreams  the 
heart  hears  the  sound  of  invisible  music.  Oft 
before  reason's  eye  the  heart  unveils  the  Vision 
Splendid.  The  soul  is  big  with  immortality, 
When  the  heart  speaks  it  is  God  within  mak- 
ing overtures  for  man  to  come  upward  toward 
home  and  heaven. 


^S3 


Renown  Through  Self-Renunciation. 


"To  live  absolutely  each  man  for  himself  could  not  be  possible 
if  all  were  to  live  together.  In  course  of  time,  in  addition  to  utility, 
certain  more  sensitive  individuals  began  to  see  a  charm,  a  beauty 
in  this  consideration  for  others.  Gradually  a  sort  of  sanctity 
attached  to  it,  and  nature  had  once  more  illustrated  her  mysterious 
method  of  evolving  from  rough  and  even  savage  necessities  her 
lovely  shapes  and  her  tender  dreams.  To  assert,  then,  with  some 
recent  critics  of  Christianity,  that  that  law  of  brotherly  love  which 
is  its  central  teaching  is  impracticable  of  application,  to  the  needs  of 
society,  is  simply  to  deny  the  very  first  law  by  which  society 
exists. — Richard  Le  Galliene,  in  "  The  Religion  of  a  Literary 
Manr 

"It  is  only  with  renunciations  that  life,  properly  speaking, 
can  be  said  to  begin.  ...  In  a  valiant  suffering  for 
others,  not  in  a  slothful  making  others  suffer  for  us,  did  noble- 
ness ever  lie." — Carlyle, 

"You  talk  of  self  as  the  motive  to  exertion.  I  tell  you  it  is 
the  abnegation  of  self  which  has  wrought  out  all  that  is  noble,  all 
that  is  good,  all  that  is  useful,  nearly  all  that  is  ornamental  in  the 
v/oM.'^—lVhyte  Mel-viUe. 

"Jesus  said:  'Whosoever  will  come  after  Me,  let  him  re- 
nounce himself,  and  take  up  his  cross  daily  and  follow  Me.' 
Perhaps  there  is  no  other  maxim  of  Jesus  which  has  such  a  com- 
bined stress  of  evidence  for  it  and  may  be  taken  as  so  eminently 
His." — Matthew  Arnold. 


I 


CHAPTER  VIIL 
Renown   Through  Self-Renunciation. 

History  has  crowned  self-sacrifice  as  one  of 
the  virtues.  In  all  ages  selfishness  has  been 
like  a  flame  consuming  society,  like  a  sword 
working  waste  and  ruin,  but  self-sacrifice  has 
repaired  these  ravages  and  achieved  for  man 
victories  many  and  great.  The  church  owes 
so  much  to  the  company  of  martyrs  whose 
blood  has  crimsoned  her  every  page,  the  state 
is  so  deeply  indebted  to  the  patriots  who  have 
given  their  lives  for  liberty,  man  has  derived 
such  strength  from  those  who  have  endured 
the  fetter  and  the  fagot  rather  than  belie 
their  convictions,  woman  has  derived  such 
beauty  from  the  example  of  that  Antigone  who 
died  rather  than  desert  the  body  of  her  dead 
brothex*,  as  that  each  modern  youth  beholds 
self-sacrifice  standing  forth  clothed  with  im- 
measurable excellence. 

Not  large  the  company  of  the  Immortals 
whose  birthdays  society  celebi'ates.  Yet  when 
on  these  high  days,  through  song  or  story  the 
poet  or  orator  draws  back  the  veil  and  reveals 
to  the  assembled  multitude  the  face  of  some 
Garibaldi  or  Hampden  or  Lincoln,  the  beloved 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

one.  is  seen  to  be  clothed  with  genius  and 
beauty  and  truth  indeed,  but  also  to  be 
crowned  with  self-sacrifice.  Society  makes 
haste  to  forget  him  who  remembers  only  him- 
self. As  there  can  be  no  illiterate  sage,  no 
ignorant  Shakespeare,  so  history  knows  no 
selfish  hero.  For  the  mercenary  forehead 
memoi'y  has  no  wreath.  A  sentinel  with  a 
flaming  sword  guards  the  threshold  of  the 
temple  of  fame  against  those  aspirants  named 
Ease,  Avarice,  Self-indulgence. 

<' Shall  I  be  remembered  by  posterity?" 
asked  the  dying  Garfield.  In  this  eager,  trem- 
ulous question  the  renowned  and  the  obscure 
alike  have  a  pathetic  interest.  For  the  deeply 
reflective  mind  oblivion  is  a  thought  all  unen- 
durable. The  tool  man  fashions,  the  structure 
he  rears,  the  success  he  achieves,  not  less  than 
his  marble  monument,  looks  down  upon  the 
beholder  with  a  mute  appeal  for  recollection. 
To  each  eager  aspirant  for  everlasting  remem- 
brance Christ  comes  whispering  his  secret  of 
abiding  renown.  Speaking  not  as  an  amateur, 
but  as  a  master,  Christ  affirms  that  he  who 
would  save  his  life  must  lose  it,  that  he  who 
would  be  remembered  by  others  must  forget 
himself,  that  the  soldier  who  flees  from  danger 
to  save  his  body  shall  leave  that  life  upon  the 
battlefield,  while  he  who  plunges  his  banner 

158 


Renown  Through  Self-Renunciatlon, 

into  the  very  thick  of  the  figlit  and  is  carried 
off  the  field  upon  his  shield  shall  in  safety  bear 
his  life  away.  Hard  seem  the  terms ;  they  re- 
buke ease,  they  smite  self-indulgence,  they 
deny  the  maxims  of  the  worldly  wise.  But  in 
accepting  Christ's  principle  and  forsaking 
their  palaces  that  they  might  be  as  brothers 
to  beggars,  Xavier  and  Loyola  found  an  ex- 
hilaration denied  to  kings;  while  each  Sir 
Launfal,  in  his  ease  denied  the  Holy  Grail,  has 
in  the  hour  of  self-sacrifice  discerned  the  Vision 
Splendid.  To  each  young  patriot  and  soldier 
looking  eagerly  unto  the  tablets  that  com- 
memorate the  deeds  of  heroes,  to  each  young 
scholar  aspiring  to  a  place  beside  the  sages, 
comes  this  word:  Life  is  through  death,  and 
immortal  renown  through  self-renunciation. 

This  law  of  self-sacrifice  is  imbedded  in 
nature.  Minot,  the  embryologist,  and  Drum- 
mond,  the  scientist,  tells  us  that  only  by  los- 
ing its  life  does  the  cell  save  it.  The  new 
science  exhibits  the  body  as  a  temple,  con- 
structed out  of  cells,  as  a  building  is  made  of 
bricks.  Just  as  some  St.  Peter  represents 
strange  marble  from  Athens,  beauteous  woods 
from  Cyprus,  granite  from  Italy,  porphyry 
from  Egypt,  all  brought  together  in  a  single 
cathedral,  so  the  human  body  is  a  glorious 
temple  built  by  those  architects  called  living 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

cells.  When  the  scientist  searches  out  the  be- 
ginning of  bird  or  bud  or  acorn  he  comes  to  a 
single  cell.  Under  the  microscope  that  cell  is 
seen  to  be  absorbing  nutrition  through  its 
outer  covering.  But  when  the  cell  has  at- 
tained a  certain  size  its  life  is  suddenly  threat- 
ened. The  center  of  the  cell  is  seen  to  be  so 
far  from  the  surface  that  it  can  no  longer  draw 
in  the  nutrition  from  without.  The  bulk  has 
outrun  the  absorbing  surface.  ' '  The  alternative 
is  very  sharp,"  says  the  scientist,  "the  cell 
must  divide  or  die."  Only  by  losing  its  life 
and  becoming  two  cells  can  it  save  its  life. 

Later  on,  when  each  of  the  two  cells  has 
grown  again  to  the  size  of  the  original  one,  the 
same  peril  threatens  them  and  they  too  must 
divide  or  die.  And  when  through  this  law  of 
saving  life  by  losing  it  nature  has  made  sure 
the  basis  for  bud  and  bird,  for  beast  and  man, 
then  the  principle  of  sacrifice  goes  on  to  secure 
beauty  of  the  individual  plant  or  animal  and 
perpetuity  for  the  species.  In  the  center  of 
each  grain  of  wheat  there  is  a  golden  spot  that 
gives  a  yellow  cast  to  the  fine  flour.  That  spot 
is  called  the  germ.  When  the  germ  sprouts 
and  begins  to  increase,  the  white  flour  taken 
up  as  food  begins  to  decrease.  As  the  plant 
waxes,  the  surrounding  kernel  wanes.  The 
life  of  the  higher  means  the  death  of  the  lower. 

1 60 


Renown  Through  Self-Renunciation. 

In  the  orchard  also  the  flower  must  fall  that 
the  fruit  may  swell.  If  the  young  apple  grows 
large,  it  must  begin  by  pushing  off  the  blos- 
som. But  by  losing  the  lower  bud,  the  tree 
saves  the  higher  fruit. 

Centuries  ago  Herodotus,  the  Grecian  trav- 
eler, noted  a  remai'kable  custom  in  Egypt. 
Each  springtime,  when  the  palms  flowered,  the 
Egyptians  went  into  the  desert,  cut  off 
branches  fi'om  the  wild  palms  and,  bringing 
them  back  to  their  gardens,  waved  them  over 
the  flowers  of  the  date  trees.  What  was  meant 
by  this  ceremony  Herodotus  did  not  know. 
The  husbandmen  believed  that  if  they  neglected 
it  the  gods  would  give  them  but  a  scanty  crop 
of  dates.  It  was  reserved  for  the  science  of 
our  century,  through  Drummond,  to  explain  the 
fact  that  the  one  palm  saved  its  dates  because 
the  other  palm  lost  its  fertilizing  pollen. 
Should  nature  refuse  to  obey  this  law  of  losing 
life  in  order  to  save  it,  man's  world  would  be- 
come one  vast  Sahara  waste,  an  arctic  desola- 
tion. 

The  law  of  sacrifice  is  also  industrial  law. 
Great  is  the  power  of  wealth.  It  buys  com- 
fort, it  purchases  travel,  it  secures  instruments 
of  culture  for  i^eason  and  taste,  it  is  almoner 
of  bounty  for  sympathy  and  kindness.  Flow- 
ing  through   man's   life,    it   seems  like  unto 

i6i 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

some  Nile  flowing  through  Egypt  with  soft, 
irrigating  flow,  bearing  man's  burdens  upon 
its  cui'rents,  giving  food  to  bird  and  beast. 
But  the  story  of  each  Peter  Cooper,  each  Pea- 
body,  each  Amos  Lawrence,  is  the  story  of  the 
ease  of  life  lost  to-day  that  the  strength  of  life 
may  be  saved  to-morrow.  Each  young  mer- 
chant loved  luxury  and  beauty,  but  in  the  in- 
terests of  thrift  he  denied  the  eye  its  hunger, 
the  taste  its  satisfaction.  When  pride  asked 
for  dress  and  show,  the  youth  rebuked  his 
vanity.  When  companions  scoffed  at  the 
young  merchant  as  a  niggard  he  subdued  his 
sensitiveness  and  inured  himself  to  lugid  econ- 
omy. When  increasing  wealth  began  to  lend 
influence,  and  society  urged  him  to  give  his 
evenings  to  gayety,  the  young  merchant  de- 
nied the  social  instinct  and  gave  his  long  win- 
ter evenings  to  broadening  his  knowledge  and 
culture.  Having  lost  the  lower  good,  at  last 
the  time  came  when  the  American  merchant 
and  philanthropist  had  saved  for  himself  uni- 
versal fame.  Having  lost  ease  and  self-indul- 
gence during  the  first  half  of  his  life,  he  saved 
the  higher  ease  and  comfort  for  the  second 
period  of  his  career. 

Similarly  of  the  young  men  in  Parlia- 
ment who  to-day  have  charge  of  the  des- 
tinies   of    the    English    empire,     it    may    be 

162 


Renown  Through  Self-Renunciation. 

said  that  they  have  saved  their  lives,  because 
the  fathers  lost  theii's.  One  hundred  years 
ago  these  fathers  made  exiles  of  themselves  in 
the  interests  of  their  sons  and  daughters.  The 
East  India  merchant  exiled  himself  into  the 
tropic  land  where  heat  and  malaria  made  his 
skin  as  yellow  as  the  gold  he  gained.  Others 
braved  the  perils  of  the  African  forests,  dared 
the  dangers  of  Australian  deserts,  endured  the 
rigor  of  the  arctic  cold.  Losing  the  lower  and 
present  happiness,  they  saved  the  higher  ease 
and  comfort  for  their  sons.  The  self-denial  of 
yesterday  brought  the  influence  of  to-day. 
Upon  this  principle  God  has  organized  the 
industrial  world.  Man  must  take  his  choice 
between  ease  and  wealth;  either  may  be  his 
but  not  both. 

Sacrifice  is  also  the  secret  of  beauty,  culture 
and  character.  Selfishness  eats  sweetness 
from  the  singer's  voice  as  rust  eats  the  edge 
of  a  sword.  St.  Cecilia  refused  to  lend  the 
divine  touch  to  lips  steeped  in  pleasure.  He 
who  sings  for  love  of  gold  finds  his  voice  be- 
coming metallic.  In  art,  also,  Hitchcock  has 
said:  "When  the  brush  grows  voluptuous  it 
falls  like  an  angel  from  heaven."  Fra  Angelico 
refuses  an  invitation  to  the  Pitti  palace, 
choosing  rather  his  crust  and  pallet  in  the  cell 
of  the  monastery      The  artist  gave  his  morn- 

163 


y 


y 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

ings  to  the  poor,  his  evenings  to  his  canvas. 
But  when  the  painter  had  worn  his  life  away 
in  kindly  deeds,  men  found  that  the  light 
divine  had  been  transferred  to  the  painter's 
canvas.  Eloquence  also  loves  sincere  lips. 
The  history  of  oratory  includes  few  great 
scenes — Demosthenes'  plea  for  Athenian  lib- 
erty that  resulted  in  his  death,  Luther's  single 
challenge  to  the  hosts  of  Pope  and  Emperor, 
Wendell  Phillips'  at  Faneuil  Hall,  Lincoln's  at 
Gettysburg.  All  these  risked  life  for  a  cause, 
and  were  baptized  with  eloquence,  their  words 
being  tipped  with  fire,  their  minds  hurling 
thunderbolts.  \ 

Sacrifice  fTTso  is  the  secret  of  beauty.  After 
a  little  time  the  life  of  pleasure  and  selfishness 
will  make  the  sweetest  fact  opaque  and  repel- 
lent, while  self-sacrificing  thoughts  are  cos- 
metics that  at  last  make  the  plainest  face  to 
be  beautiful.  In  the  calm  of  scholarship  men 
have  given  up  the  thought  that  culture  con. 
sists  of  an  exquisite  I'efinement  in  manners 
and  dress,  in  language  and  equipage.  The 
poet  laureate  makes  Maud  the  type  of  polished 
perfection.  She  is  "  icily  regular,  splendidly 
null,"  for  culture  is  moi'e  of  the  heart  than  of 
the  mind.  But  as  eloquence  means  that  an 
orator  has  so  mastered  the  laws  of  posture, 
and    gesture    and    thought   and   speech   that 

164 


Renown  Through  Self-Renunciation. 

they  are  utterly  forgotten,  and  have  become 
second  nature,  so  knowledge  becomes  culture, 
and  physical  perfection  becomes  beauty,  only 
when  it  is  unconscious. 

In  the  moral  realm  also,  the  gains  for  the 
soul  begin  with  loss.  In  the  hour  of  tempta- 
tion he  who  sacrifices  the  higher  duty  to  the 
lower  pleasure  will  find  that  ease  has  shorn 
away  the  strength  of  Samson. 

Victor  Hugo  has  pictured  a  man  committing 
suicide  through  poverty,  and  deserting  the 
duty  and  dwelling  where  God  has  placed  him. 
But  waking  in  the  next  world,  the  man  per- 
ceives a  letter  on  the  way  to  himself  announc- 
ing a  large  inheritance  which  would  have  been 
his  had  he  but  been  patient.  Therefore  the 
great  novelist  affirms  that  God  makes  such  a 
man  begin  over  again,  only  under  harder  con- 
ditions, the  existence  that  here  he  has  will- 
fully shattered.  What  a  tragedy  is  his  who, 
to  save  the  present  good,  will  lose  the  higher 
life.  Whittier  expressed  the  fear  that  Daniel 
Webster  saved  his  life  only  to  lose  it.  In  his 
works  the  poet  recalls  the  time  when  for  gen- 
ius of  statesmanship  and  weight  of  mentality 
Webster's  like  was  not  upon  our  earth.  But 
in  an  evil  hour  the  statesman  saw  that  the 
presidency  was  a  prize  that  could  be  gained  by 
giving  the  fugitive  slave  law  as  a  sop  to  the 

.6; 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

South.  In  that  hour  his  character  suffered 
grievous  injury.  In  the  attempt  to  save  men's 
votes  he  lost  men's  higher  respect.  In  deepest 
sorrow  his  admirers,  abroad  and  at  home, 
cried  out:  "  O,  Lucifer,  thou  son  of  the  morn- 
ing, how  art  thou  fallen!  " 

The  law  of  sacrifice  is  also  the  law  of  prog- 
ress and  civilization.  When  history  exhibits 
as  dead  the  nations  that  have  been  pleasure- 
seekers  it  declares  that  the  state  that  saveth 
its  life  shall  lose  it.  In  our  own  land  the 
bankruptcy  and  gloom  that  have  for  years 
overshadowed  the  South  speak  eloquently  of  a 
national  gain  that  is  a  loss.  One  hundred 
years  ago  the  North  freed  its  slaves.  Later, 
when  the  constitution  was  adopted,  many 
statesmen  believed  that  slavery  was  losing  its 
hold  in  the  South.  Jefferson  said:  "When  I 
think  that  God  is  just  I  tremble  for  my  coun- 
try." In  that  hour  the  statesman  prophesied 
that  slavery  would  soon  melt  away  like  the 
vanishing  snow  of  April.  But  when  Whitney 
invented  his  gin  and  the  raising  of  cotton  be- 
came very  lucrative  slavery  took  on  new  life. 
It  was  Lord  Brougham  who  first  said  that 
when  slavery  brought  in  100  percent,  while  it 
was  .seen  to  be  immoral,  not  all  the  navies 
of  the  world  could  stop  it.  Later,  when  it 
brought  in  200  percent,  it  became  a  peculiar 

166 


Renown  Through  Self-Renunciatlon. 

institution,  patterned  after  the  system  of  the 
patriarchs.  But  when  it  brought  in  300  per- 
cent master  and  slave  became  a  Christian  re- 
lation, and  slavery  was  baptized  with  quota- 
tions from  the  Old  Testament. 

But  avarice  could  not  forever  blind  men's 
eyes  to  scenes  of  sorrow,  nor  stop  their  ears 
to  sounds  of  woe.  When  the  horrors  of  the 
slave-market  and  the  infamies  of  the  cotton- 
field  filled  all  the  land  with  shame  reformers 
arose,  declaring  that  the  attempt  to  compress 
and  confine  liberty  would  end  in  explosion. 
In  that  hour  Northern  men  made  tentative 
overtures  looking  to  the  purchase  of  all  slaves. 
But  slavery,  Delilah-like,  made  the  southern 
leaders  drunk  with  the  cup  of  sorcery.  They 
scorned  the  proposition.  In  the  light  of  sub- 
sequent events  we  see  that  in  saving  her  in- 
stitution the  South  lost  it,  and  with  it  her 
wealth,  while  in  losing  her  slaves  the  North 
gained  her  wealth.  Under  free  labor  the  North 
doubled  its  population,  its  manufactories,  its 
riches  and  waxed  mighty.  Under  slave-labor 
the  South  dwindled  in  wealth  and  became  only 
the  empty  shell  of  a  state.  The  spark  fired  at 
Fort  Sumter  kindled  a  conflagration  that 
swept  through  the  sunny  South  like  a  devas- 
tating fire  and  revealed  its  inner  poverty. 
When  four  years  had  passed  by  the  farmhouses 

167 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

and  factories  were  ruins,  the  village  was  a 
heap,  the  town  a  desolation.  Graveyards  were 
as  populous  as  cities,  each  village  had  its  com- 
pany of  cripples,  the  cry  of  the  orphan  and 
the  widow  filled  all  the  land. 

When  Charles  Darwin  returned  from  his 
voyage  around  the  world,  he  sent  a  generous 
contribution  to  the  London  Missionary  So- 
ciety. The  great  scientist  had  discovered  that 
in  lessening  her  wealth  through  missions  Eng- 
land had  saved  her  treasure  through  com- 
merce. Traveling  in  foreign  lands,  Darwin 
noticed  that  the  Christian  teachers  in  schools 
that  now  touch  3,000,000  of  young  men  and 
women  in  India,  were  really  commercial  agents 
for  England's  trade.  In  awakening  the  minds 
of  the  darkened  millions  the  teacher  had  cre- 
ated a  demand  for  books,  newspapers  and 
printing-presses.  In  awakening  the  sense  of 
self-respect  the  teacher  had  created  a  demand 
for  English  clothing  and  the  product  of  Eng- 
lish looms.  Also  the  influence  of  each  home, 
with  its  comforts  and  conveniences,  created  a 
demand  for  English  tools  and  improvements  of 
labor.  Summing  up  his  observation.  Lord 
Havclock  said  that  each  thousand  dollars  Eng- 
land had  spent  upon  her  missions  had  brought 
a  return  of  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  through 
her     commerce.     Hitherto     the     interior     of 

i68 


Renown  Through  Self-Renunciation. 

China  has  been  closed  to  English  merchants. 
To  that  dark  land,  thei'efore,  England  has 
sent  200  teachers  whose  homes  ai-e  centers  of 
light  and  inspiration.  When  two-score  years 
have  passed  English  fleets  will  be  taxed  to  the 
utmost  to  carry  to  China,  as  now  to  India,  her 
fabrics  of  cotton  and  wool,  her  presses,  looms, 
sewing-machines,  her  pictures,  her  libraines. 
In  giving  of  her  wealth  to  found  these  desti- 
tute schools  England  will  save  it  a  hundred- 
fold and  find  new  markets  among  300,000,000 
people. 

Sacrifice  is  also  the  secret  of  influence.  Long 
ago  Cicero  noted  that  tales  of  heroes  and  elo- 
quence and  self-sacrifice  cast  a  charm  and  spell 
upon  the  people.  When  men  sacrifice  ease, 
wealth,  rank,  life  itself,  the  delight  of  the  be- 
holders knows  no  bounds.  If  we  call  the  roll 
of  the  sons  of  greatness  and  influence  we  shall 
see  that  they  are  also  the  sons  of  self-sacrifice. 
The  Grecian  hero  who  lost  his  life  that  he 
might  save  his  influence  is  typical  of  all  the 
great  leaders.  Phocion  was  a  patriot  and 
martyr  whose  single  error  in  judgment  brought 
down  a  catastrophe  upon  his  beloved  Athens. 
When  the  fierce  mob  surrounded  his  house  and 
prepared  to  beat  down  his  dooi's,  friends 
offered  Phocion  escape  and  shelter,  but  the 
hei'o    went    calmly    forth    to    meet  his   death. 

169 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

When  the  day  of  execution  arrived  the  cup  of 
poison  was  handed  to  the  other  leaders  first. 
The  jailer  was  careful  to  see  to  it  that  before 
he  reached  Phocion  he  had  only  a  few  drops  of 
hemlock  left  in  his  cup,  but  the  hero  drew  out 
his  purse  and  bade  a  youth  run  swiftly  to  buy 
more  poison,  saying  to  the  onlookers:  "Athens 
makes  her  patriots  pay,  even  for  dying." 
Losing  his  life,  Phocion  found  immortal  in- 
fluence. 

The  history  of  Holland's  greatness  is  the 
history  of  one  who  saved  liberty  by  losing  his 
own  life.  William  the  Silent  was  a  prince  in 
station  and  in  wealth,  yet  for  Holland's  sake 
made  himself  a  beggar  and  an  outlaw.  He 
feared  God,  indeed,  but  not  the  batteries  of  Alva 
and  Philip.  His  career  reads  like  one  who 
with  naked  fists  captured  a  blazing  cannon. 
Falling  at  last  by  the  dagger  of  a  hired  as- 
sassin, he  exclaimed:  "T  commit  my  poor 
people  to  God  and  myself  to  God's  great  cap- 
tain, Christ."  When  he  died  little  children 
cried  in  the  streets.  He  lost  his  life,  said  his 
biographer,  but  saved  his  fame.  And  what 
shall  we  more  say  of  Italy's  hero,  who  wore  his 
fiery  fagots  like  a  crown  of  gold;  of  Ger- 
many's hero,  who  lost  his  priestly  rites,  but 
gained  the  hearts  of  all  mankind;  of  Eng- 
land's hero,    whoso   very  ashes    were  cast   by 

170 


Renown  Through  Self-Renunciation. 

enemies  upon  the  River  Severn,  as  if  to  float 
his  influence  out  o'er  all  the  world;  of  India's 
hero,  William  Carey,  the  English  shoemaker, 
who  founded  for  India  an  educational  system 
now  reaching  millions  of  children  and  youth, 
who  gave  India  literature,  made  five  grammars 
and  six  dictionaries,  and  so  used  his  commer- 
cial genius  through  his  indigo  plantation  and 
factories  that  it  made  for  him  a  million 
dollars  in  the  interests  of  Christian  mis- 
sions? Of  this  great  company,  what  can  we 
say  save  that  they  won  renown  through  self- 
renunciation!  "What  they  did  makes  weak  and 
unworthy  what  we  say.  Just  here  let  us 
remember  that  the  statue  of  Jupiter  was  a 
figure  so  colossal  that  worshipers,  unable  to 
reach  the  divine  forehead,  cast  their  garlands 
at  the  hero's  feet.  For  this  law  of  sacrifice  is 
the  secret  of  the  Messiah.  Earth's  great  ones 
were  taught  it  by  their  Master.  Jesus  Christ, 
"being  rich,  for  our  sakes became  poor."  Be- 
cause the  law  of  sacrifice  is  the  law  of  the 
Savior,  man  gains  life  through  death  and  re- 
nown through  self-renunciation. 


171 


The  Gentleness  of  True   Gianthood. 


«'A  gentleman's  first  characteristic  is  that  fineness  of  structure 
in  the  body  which  renders  it  capable  of  the  most  delicate  sensa- 
tion ;  and  of  structure  in  the  mind  which  renders  it  capable  of  the 
most  delicate  sympathies — one  may  say,  simply  'fineness  of 
nature.'  This  is,  of  course,  compatible  with  heroic  bodily 
strength  and  mental  firmness  ;  in  fact,  heroic  strength  is  not  con- 
ceivable without  such  delicacy.  Elephantine  strength  may  drive 
its  way  through  a  forest  and  feel  no  touch  of  the  boughs,  but  the 
white  skin  of  Homer's  Atrides  would  have  felt  a  bent  rose  leaf, 
vet  subdue  its  feeling  in  glow  of  battle,  and  behave  itself  like 
iron.  I  do  not  mean  to  call  an  elephant  a  vulgar  animal,  but  if 
you  think  about  him  carefully  you  will  find  that  his  non-vulgarity 
consists  in  such  gentleness  as  is  possible  to  elephantine  nature  ;  not 
in  his  insensitive  hide,  nor  in  his  clumsy  foot,  but  in  the  way  he 
will  lift  his  foot  if  a  child  lies  in  his  way  and  in  his  sensitive 
trunk,  and  still  more  sensitive  mind,  and  capability  of  pique  on 
points  of  honor.  Hence  it  will  follow  that  one  of  the  probable 
signs  of  high-breeding  in  men  generally  will  be  their  kindness  and 
mercifulness. ' '  — Modern  Painters. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Gentleness  of  True  Gianthood. 

History  has  never  known  another  such  an 
enthusiasm  for  a  hero  as  the  multitude  once 
felt  toward  Jesus  Christ.  There  have  indeed 
been  times  when  such  patriots  as  Garibaldi, 
Kossuth  and  Lincoln  have  kindled  in  men  an 
enthusiasm  akin  to  adoration  and  worship. 
Yet  let  us  hasten  to  confess  that  the  qualities 
calculated  to  quicken  men  into  raptures  of  de- 
votion appeared  in  these  patriots  only  in  frag- 
mentary foi'm,  while  they  dwelt  in  Christ  in 
full-orbed  majesty  and  splendor.  The  wel- 
come Chicago  gave  to  Grant  upon  his  return 
from  his  journey  around  the  world;  the  en- 
thusiasm excited  by  Kossuth  when  in  1851  he 
drove  through  Broadway,  New  York;  the 
wave  of  gratitude  that  swept  over  the  Italian 
multitude  when  Garibaldi  appeared  in  Flor- 
ence— all  these  are  events  that  bear  witness  to 
society's  devotion  to  its  patriots  and  heroes. 
But,  be  it  remembered,  these  scenes  occurred 
but  once  in  the  history  of  each  of  these  great 
men. 

It  stirs  wonder  in  us,  therefore,  that  Christ's 

175 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

every  journey  across  the  fields  took  on  the 
aspect  of  a  triumphal  procession,  while  His 
popularity  waxed  with  familiarity  and  the  in- 
creasing yeai's.  Indeed,  full  oft  the  rapture 
men  felt  toward  Him  amounted  to  an  intoxica- 
tion and  an  ecstasy  of  devotion.  True  it  is 
that  men  now  look  upon  Him  through  a  blaze 
of  light,  and,  remembering  His  achievements 
for  art,  liberty  and  learning,  have  stained  His 
name  through  and  through  with  lustrous  colors. 
As  at  eventide  we  look  out  upon  the  sun 
through  white  and  golden  clouds  that  the  sun 
itself  has  lifted,  so  do  we  behold  the  carpen- 
ter's son  standing  forth  under  the  dazzling 
light  of  nearly  two  thousand  years  of  history, 
while  the  heart  colors  His  name  v/ith  all  that 
is  noblest  in  human  aspiration  and  achieve- 
ment. 

Nevertheless,  be  it  instantly  confessed  that 
from  the  very  beginning  this  divine  Teacher 
exhibited  qualities  that  kindled  in  men  an  en- 
thusiasm that  amounted  to  transcendent  de- 
light. The  time  was  when  scholars  attempted 
to  explain  His  influence  over  the  multitude  by 
portraying  Him  with  a  halo  of  light  about  His 
head.  Fortunately  these  ideas  that  robbed 
men  of  all  fellowship  with  their  divine  brother 
have  perished,  and  now  we  know  that  there 
was  nothing  unusual  about  His   appearance, 

176 


The  Gentleness  of  True  Gianthood. 

nor  did  any  effulgent  light  blaze  forth  from 
His  person.  Whether  or  not  unique  beauty  of 
face  and  form  was  His  we  do  not  know.  Coins 
and  statues  portray  for  us  the  Roman  em- 
perors and  the  Greek  scholars.  Yet  art  has 
broken  down  utterly  in  the  attempt  to  com- 
bine in  one  face  Christ's  majesty  and  meek- 
ness, strength  and  gentleness,  suffering  and 
victoi'y.  All  that  we  can  know  of  His  per- 
sonal appearance  must  be  gained  through  im- 
agination, as  it  clothed  Him  with  those  traits 
that  alone  cannot  account  for  His  influence 
over  the  multitudes.  What  sweet  allurement 
in  the  face  that  made  children  leap  into  His 
arms  !  What  winsome  benignity  that  made 
mothers  feel  that  His  touch  would  return  the 
babe  with  double  worth  into  the  parent's 
bosom  ! 

Purity  in  others  has  been  cold  and  chaste  as 
ice.  How  strange  that  in  Him  purity  had  an 
irresistible  fascination,  so  that  the  corruptest 
and  wickedest  felt  drawn  unto  Him,  and  ' '  de- 
pravity itself  bowed  down  and  wept  in  the 
presence  of  divinity."  What  all-forgiving 
love,  what  all-cleansing  love,  in  one  who  by  a 
mere  look  could  dissolve  in  repentant  tears 
men  long  hardened  by  vice  and  crime !  What 
an  atmosphere  of  power  He  must  have  carried, 
that  by  one  beam  from  His  eye  He  could  smite 

177 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

to  the  very  ground  the  soldiers  who  confronted 
Him  ! 

Did  ever  man  have  such  a  genius  for  noble 
friendship?  What  bosom  words  He  used  ! 
What  love  pressure  in  all  His  speech  !  How 
were  His  words  laden  with  double  meanings, 
so  that  hearing  one  thing,  men  also  heard  an- 
other, even  as  they  who  hear  the  sound  of  the 
distant  sea,  knowing  that  the  sound  they  hear 
is  but  a  breath  of  the  great  infinite  ocean  that 
heaves  beyond  in  the  dim,  vast  dark.  Among 
all  the  heroes  of  time  He  walks  solitary  by  the 
greatness  of  His  power.  His  beauty  and  the 
wonder  of  love  His  personality  excited.  Stand- 
ing in  the  presence  of  some  glorious  cathedral 
or  gallery,  beholding  the  Parthenon  or  pyra- 
mids, the  rugged  mountain  or  the  beautiful 
landscape,  emotion  and  imagination  are  some- 
times so  deeply  stirred  that  men  lose  command 
of  themselves  and  break  into  transports  of  ad- 
miration. But  the  enthusiam  evoked  by 
mountain  or  statue  or  canvas  is  as  nothing 
compared  to  the  rapturous  devotion  felt  by  the 
multitude  for  this  One,  who  united  in  full 
splendor  all  those  eminent  qualities  of  mind 
and  heart  that  all  the  ages  and  generations 
have  in  vain  sought  to  emulate.  High  over 
all  the  other  worthies  He  rises  like  a  star  rid- 

178 


y 


The  Gentleness  of  True  Gianthood. 

ing   in   untroubled   splendor   above   the  low- 
browed hills. 

In  all  ages  great  men  have  educated  them- 
selves by  reading  the  biography  of  ancient 
worthies,  and  emulating  the  example  of  the 
heroes  of  antiquity.  Great  has  been  the  in- 
fluence of  these  reformers  and  philosophers, 
statesmen  and  poets,  hanging  in  the  heavens 
above  men  and  raining  down  inspiration  upon 
the  human  imagination.  Yet  from  all  the 
worthies  of  the  past,  and  all  modern  heroes, 
man  has  drawn  less  of  inspiration  and  personal 
influence  than  from  the  single  example  of  this 
ideal  Christ.  Passing  by  His  influence  upon 
institutions,  education,  art  and  literature,  we 
shall  do  well  to  consider  how  His  example  has 
instructed  man  in  the  art  of  a  right  carriage 
of  the  faculties  in  the  home  and  market-place. 
In  the  last  analysis,  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only 
perfect  gentleman  our  earth  has  ever  known — 
in  comparison  with  whom  all  the  Chesterfields 
seem  boors.  For  nothing  taxes  a  man  so 
heavily  as  the  task  of  maintaining  smooth, 
pleasant  and  charitable  relations  with  one's 
fellows.  And  Christ  alone  was  able  always  to 
meet  storm  with  calm,  hate  with  love,  scowls 
with  smiles,  plottings  with  confidence,  envy 
and  bitterness  with  unruffled  tranquilityTl 

179 


y 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

In  all  His  relations  with  His  friends  and 
enemies  the  quality  that  crowns  His  method 
of  living  and  challenges  our  thought  is  the 
gentleness  of  His  bearing.  Matchless  the 
mingled  strength  and  beauty  of  His  life,  yet 
gentleness  was  the  flower  and  fruitage  of  it 
all.  For  in  Him  the  lion  and  the  lamb  dwelt 
together.  Oak  and  rock  were  there,  and  also 
vine  and  flower.  Weakness  is  always  rough. 
Only  giants  can  be  gentle.  Tenderness  is  an 
inflection  of  strength.  No  error  can  be  greater 
than  to  suppose  that  gentleness  is  mere  ab- 
sence of  vigor.  Weakness  totters  and  tugs  at 
its  burden.  When  the  dwarf  that  attended 
Ivanhoe  at  the  tournament  lifted  the  bleeding 
sufl"ei'er  he  staggered  under  his  heavy  burden. 
Weakness  made  him  stumble  and  caused  the 
wounded  knight  intense  pain.  When  the  giant 
of  the  brawny  arm  and  the  unconquered  heart 
came,  he  lifted  the  unconscious  suff"erer  like  a 
feather's  weight  and  without  a  jar  bore  him 
away  to  a  secure  hiding-place  for  healing  and 
recovering.  Pp^  who  studies  the  great  men  of 
yesterday  will  find  in  the  last  analysis  that 
gentleness  has  always  been  the  test  of  giant- 
hood,  and  fine  considerateness  the  measure  of 
manhood  and  the  gauge  of  personal  worth. 
No  other  hero  moving  through  the  crowds  has 

i8o 


t/ 


The  Gentleness  of  True  Glanthood. 

ever  been  so  courteously  gentle,  so  sweetly 
considerate  in  his  personal  bearing  as  this 
Christ — who  never  failed  to  kindle  in  men 
transports  of  delight  and  enthusiasm." 

The  crying  fault  of  our  generation  is  its 
lack  of  gentleness.  Our  age  is  harsh  when  it 
judges,  brutal  when  it  blames  and  savage  in 
its  severity.  Carlyle,  emptying  vials  of  scorn 
upon  the  people  of  England,  numbering  his 
generation  by  "thirty  millions,  mostly  fools," 
is  typical  of  the  publicists,  authors  and  critics 
who  pelt  their  brother  man  with  contemptuous 
scorn.  The  author  of  "  Robert  Elsmere  "  ex- 
hibits that  polished  scholar  and  brilliant  stu- 
dent as  one  who  gave  up  teaching  because  he 
could  find  no  audience  on  a  level  with  his 
ability  or  worthy  of  his  instruction.  Having 
begun  by  despising  others,  he  ends  by  despis- 
ing himself.  Now  the  popularity  of  Elsmere's 
character  witnesses  to  the  fact  that  our  gen- 
eration includes  a  large  number  of  cynics  who 
scorn  their  fellows  and  in  Elsmere  see  them- 
selves as  "in  an  open  glass."  To-day  this 
tendency  toward  harshness  of  judgment  has 
become  more  pronounced,  and  there  seems  to 
be  no  leader  so  noble  as  to  escape  brutal  criti- 
cism and  no  movement  whose  white  flag  may 
not  be  smirched  by  mud-slingers.     What  epi- 

i8i 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

thets  are  hurled  at  each  new  idea!  What  tor- 
I'ents  of  ridicule  are  emptied  out  upon  each 
social  movement! 

The  fact  that  society  has  oftentimes  de- 
stroyed its  noblest  geniuses  avails  little  for 
the  restraint  of  harshness.  For  years  Eng- 
land was  wildly  merry  at  Turner's  expense. 
The  newspapers  cartooned  his  paintings.  Re- 
views spoke  of  them  as  "color  blotches."  The 
rich  over  their  champagne  made  merry  at  the 
great  artist's  expense.  After  a  while  men 
found  a  little  respite  from  the  mad  chase  for 
wealth  and  pleasure  and  discovered  that  Tur- 
ner's extreme  examples  represented  peculiar 
moods  in  nature,  seen  only  by  those  who  had 
traveled  as  widely  as  had  Turner,  while  his 
great  landscapes  were  as  rich  in  imaginative 
quality  as  those  of  any  artist  of  all  ages. 
Only  when  it  was  too  late,  only  when  harsh- 
ness had  broken  the  man's  heart,  and  scorn 
had  fatally  wounded  his  genius,  did  scholars 
begin  to  adorn  their  pages  by  references  to 
Turner's  fame,  did  the  rich  begin  to  pay  fabu- 
lous sums  for  the  very  pictures  they  had  once 
despised;  the  nation  set  apart  the  best  room 
in  its  gallery  for  Turner's  works,  while  the 
people  wove  for  his  white  tombstone  wreaths 
they  had  denied  his  brow  and  paid  his  dead 
ashes  honors  refused  his  living  spirit. 

182 


The  Gentleness  of  True  Gianthood. 

In  similar  vein  we  remember  the  English- 
speaking  world  has  recently  been  celebrating 
the  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Keats,  who  is 
the  only  pure  Greek  in  all  English  literature, 
for  whose  imagination  ' '  a  thing  of  beauty  was 
a  joy  forever,"  and  whose  genius  in  divining 
the  secrets  of  the  beautiful  amounted  to  in- 
spiration. We  know  now  that  no  poet  in  all 
time,  who  died  so  young,  has  left  so  much  that 
is  precious.  Scholars  are  not  wanting  who 
believe  that  had  he  lived  to  see  his  maturity 
Keats  would  have  ranked  with  the  five  great 
poets  of  the  first  order  of  genius.  Yet  the 
publication  of  his  volume  of  verse  received 
from  "  Blackwood  "  and  the  "Quarterly"  only 
contempt  and  bitter  scorn.  Waxing  bold,  the 
penny-a-liners  grew  savage,  until  the  very 
skies  rained  lies  and  bitter  slanders  upon  poor 
Keats.  Sensitive,  soon  he  was  wounded  to 
death.  After  a  week  of  sleeplessness,  he  arose 
one  morning  to  find  a  bright  red  spot  upon  his 
handkerchief.  "  That  is  arterial  blood,"  said 
he;  "that  drop  is  my  death-warrant;  I  shall 
die."  And  so,  when  he  was  one-and-twenty, 
friends  lifted  above  the  boy's  dust  a  marble 
slab,  upon  which  was  written:  "Here  lies  one 
whose  name  was  writ  in  water."  Now  his 
name  shines  like  a  star,  while  low  down  and 
bespattered  with  mud  are  the  names  of  those 

183 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

whose  cruel  criticisms  helped  to  kill  the  boy 
;ind  whose  only  claim  to  immortality  is  their 
brutality. 

Witness  also  the  contempt  our  age  once 
visited  upon  Browning,  whose  mind  is  slowly 
becoming  recognized  as  one  of  the  rich-gold 
minds  of  our  century.  Witness  the  sport  over 
Ruskin's  "Munera  Pulveris,"  and  the  scornful 
reception  given  Carlyle's  "Sartor  Resartus." 
Now  that  a  few  years  have  passed,  those  who 
once  reviled  are  teaching  their  children  the 
pathway  to  the  graves  of  the  great.  The 
harshness  of  the  world's  treatment  of  its 
greatest  teachers  makes  one  of  the  most  pa- 
thetic chapters  in  history.  God  gives  each 
nation  only  a  few  men  of  supreme  talent. 
Gives  it,  for  greatness  is  not  made;  it  is  found 
as  is  the  gold.  Gold  cannot  be  made  out  of 
mud;  it  is  uncovered.  And  God  gives  each 
generation  a  few  men  of  the  first  order;  and 
when  they  have  created  truth  and  beauty  they 
have  the  right  while  they  live  to  kindness  and 
sympathy,  not  harshness  and  cynicism.  No 
youth  winning  the  first  goal  of  his  ambition 
was  ever  injured  by  knowing  that  his  father's 
face  did  not  flush  with  pride,  while  his  moth- 
er's eyes  were  filled  with  happy  tears,  in  joy  of 
his  first  victory.  No  noble  lover  but  girds 
himself  for  a  second  struggle  the  more  reso- 

184 


The  Gentleness  of  True  Gianthood. 

lutely  for  knowing  that  his  noble  mistress  re- 
joiced in  his  first  conquest.  Frost  itself  is  not 
more  destructive  to  harvest  fields  than  harsh- 
ness is  to  the  creative  faculties.  Strange  that 
Florence  gave  Dante  exile  in  exchange  for  his 
immortal  poem!  Strange  that  London  gave 
Milton  threats  of  imprisonment  for  the  manu- 
script of  "Paradise  Lost!  "  Passing  strange 
that  until  his  career  was  nearly  run  universities 
visited  upon  John  Ruskin  only  scorn  and  con- 
tumely, that  ruined  his  health  and  broke  his 
heart,  withholding  the  wreath  until,  as  he 
said  pathetically,  his  only  "pleasure  was  in 
memory,  his  ambition  in  heaven,"  and  he 
knew  not  what  to  do  with  his  laurel  leaves 
save  "lay  them  wistfully  upon  his  mother's 
grave."  In  every  age  the  critics  that  have 
refused  honor  to  its  worthies,  living,  have 
heaped  gifts  high  upon  the  graves  of  its  dead. 
That  generation  and  individual  must  be  far 
from  perfect  that  is  characterized  by  the  pres- 
ence of  harshness  and  the  absence  of  gentle- 
ness. With  a  great  blare  of  trumpets  our 
century  has  been  praised  for  its  ingenuity,  its 
wealth  and  comforts,  its  instruments,  refine- 
ment and  culture.  But  history  tells  of  no  man 
who  has  carried  his  genius  up  to  such  supreme 
excellence  that  society  has  forgotten  his  vice 
or  forgiven  the  faults  that  marred  his   rare 

i8j 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

gifts.  What  genius  had  DeQuincey!  Mar- 
velous the  myriad-minded  Coleridge!  The 
opium-habit,  however,  was  a  vice  that  eclipsed 
their  fame  and  robbed  them  of  half  their  right- 
ful influence.  Voltaire's  style  was  so  fault- 
lessly perfect  that  if  the  sentences  lying  across 
his  page  had  been  strings  of  pearls  they  could 
have  been  no  more  beautiful.  But  Voltaire's 
excesses  make  a  black  mark  across  the  white 
page  before  each  reader's  mind.  Rousseau's 
writings  are  so  melodious  that,  long  after 
laying  aside  the  book  the  ear  would  be  filled 
with  the  sound  of  delicious  music  were  it  not 
that  the  reader  seems  ever  to  hear  the  moan  of 
the  four  children  whose  unnatural  father,  with- 
out even  giving  them  a  name,  placed  them  in  the 
foundling-asylum. 

Early  Carlyle  wooed  and  won  one  of 
the  most  brilliant  girls  of  his  day,  whose 
signal  talent  shone  in  the  crowded  draw- 
ing-rooms of  London  like  a  sapphire  blazing 
among  pebbles.  Yet  her  husband  lacked  gen- 
tleness. Slowly  harshness  crept  into  Carlyle's 
voice.  Soon  the  wife  gave  up  her  favorite 
authors  to  read  the  husband's  notes;  then  she 
gave  up  all  reading  to  relieve  him  of  details ;  at 
last  her  very  being  was  placed  on  the  altar  of 
sacrifice — fuel  to  feed  the  flame  of  his  fame  and 
genius.     Long  before  the  end  came  she  was 

l86 


The  Gentleness  of  True  Gianthood. 

submerged  and  almost  forgotten.  One  day 
two  distinguished  foreign  authors  called 
upon  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carlyle.  For  an  hour  the 
philosopher  poured  forth  vehement  tirade 
against  the  commercial  spirit,  while  the  good 
wife  never  once  opened  her  lips.  At  last  the 
author  ceased  talking,  and  there  was  silence 
for  a  time.  Suddenly  Carlyle  thundered: 
"Jane,  stop  breathing  so  loud  !"  Long  years 
before  Jane  had  stopped  doing  everything  else 
except  breathe.  And  so,  obedient  to  the  in- 
junction, a  few  days  afterward  she  ceased 
"  breathing  so  loud." 

When  a  few  weeks  had  gone  by  Carlyle 
discovered,  through  reading  her  journal, 
that  his  wife  had  for  want  of  affec- 
tion frozen  and  starved  to  death  within  his 
home  like  some  poor  traveler  who  had  fallen 
in  the  snows  beyond  the  door.  For  years, 
without  his  realizing  it,  she  had  kept  all  the 
wheels  oiled,  kept  his  body  in  health  and  his 
mind  in  happiness.  Only  when  it  was  too  late 
did  the  husband  realize  that  his  fame  was 
largely  his  wife's.  Then  did  the  old  man  be- 
gin his  pathetic  pilgrimage  to  his  wife's  grave, 
where  Froude  often  found  him  murmuring: 
"If  I  had  only  known  !  If  I  had  only  known  !" 
For  all  his  supreme  gifts  and  rare  talents  were 
marred  by  harshness.     Intellectual  brilliancy 

187 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

weighs  light  as  punk  against  the  gold  of  gen- 
tleness and  character.  Half  Carlyle's  books, 
weighted  by  a  gentle,  noble  spirit,  would  have 
availed  more  for  social  progress  than  these 
many  volumes  with  the  bad  taste  they  leave 
in  the  mouth.  The  sign  of  ripeness  in  an 
apple,  a  peach,  is  beauty,  and  the  test  of  char- 
acter is  gentleness  and  kindness  of  heart. 

One  of  the  crying  needs  of  society  is  a  re- 
vival of  gentleness  and  of  a  refined  considerate- 
ness  in  judging  others.  There  is  no  disposi- 
tion that  cuts  at  the  very  root  of  character 
like  harshness,  and  there  is  nothing  that 
blights  happiness  and  breeds  discord  like  un- 
lovingness  and  severity  of  judgment.  We 
hear  much  of  industrial  strife,  social  warfare 
and  want  of  sjTnpathy  between  the  classes. 
Be  it  remembei'ed,  gentleness  alone  can  be  in- 
voked to  heal  the  breach.  There  is  a  legend 
that  when  Jacob  with  his  family  and  flocks 
met  Esau  with  his  children  and  herds,  the 
angels  of  God  hovered  in  the  air  above  the 
two  brothers  and  began  to  rain  gifts  down 
upon  their  companies.  Strangely  enough, 
each  forgetting  the  gifts  falling  in  his  own 
camp,  rushed  forth  to  pick  up  the  gifts  falling 
in  that  of  his  brother.  There  was  anger 
stirred.  Epithets  and  stones  began  to  fly, 
until  all  the  air  was  filled  with  flying  weapons. 

i88 


The  Gentleness  of  True  Gianthood. 

In  such  a  scrimmage  the  messengers  of  peace 
had  no  place.  Soon  the  sound  of  receding 
wings  died  out  of  the  air,  the  gifts  ceased  to 
fall  and  all  things  faded  into  the  light  of  com- 
mon day.  This  legend  interprets  to  us  how- 
harshness  breeds  strife  and  robs  man  of  his 
gifts  from  God  and  his  happiness  through  his 
brother  man. 

Several  years  ago  an  industrial  war  was 
waged  in  the  coal  districts  of  England  that 
cost  that  nation  untold  treasure.  It  is  said  that 
the  strife  grew  out  of  hai'sh  words  between 
the  leaders  of  the  opposing  factions.  It  seemed 
that  the  industrious  and  worthy  poor  men 
overlooked  the  fact  that  there  were  industri- 
ous and  worthy  rich  men  and  insisted  on 
speaking  only  of  the  idle  and  spendthrift  rich. 
Then  followed  his  opponent  who,  as  an  in- 
dustrious and  worthy  rich  man,  insisted  on 
ignoring  the  industrious  and  worthy  poor,  but 
spoke  only  of  the  idle  and  thriftless  poor,  the 
paupers  and  parasites.  Soon  gentleness  was 
forgotten  and  harshness  remembered.  Soon 
there  came  the  trampled  cornfields  and  the 
bloody  streets. 

Teachers  also  need  to  learn  the  lesson  of 
Arnold  of  Rugby.  One  day  the  great  in- 
structor spake  harshly  to  a  dull  boy,  who  an 
hour  afterward  came  to  him  with  tearful  eyes, 

189 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

and  in  a  half-sobbing  voice  exclaimed:  "But 
why  are  you  angry,  sir?  I  am  doing  my 
best."  Then  Arnold  learned  that  a  lesson 
easy  for  one  mind  may  be  a  torture  for  an- 
other. So  he  begged  the  boy's  pardon,  and 
recognized  the  principle  of  gentleness  that 
afterwax'd  made  him  the  greatest  instructor  of 
his  time. 

Not  war,  not  pestilence,  not  famine  it- 
self, produces  for  each  generation  so  much 
misery  and  unhappincss  as  is  wrought  in 
the  aggregate  through  the  accumulated  harsh- 
ness of  each  generation.  Blessed  are  the  hap- 
piness-makers !  Blessed  are  they  who  with 
humble  talents  make  themselves  like  the  mig- 
nonette, creators  of  fragrance  and  peace! 
Thrice  blessed  are  they  who  with  lofty  talents 
emulate  the  vines  that  climbing  high  never 
forget  to  blossom,  and  the  higher  they  climb 
do  ever  shed  sweet  blooms  upon  those  beneath! 
No  single  great  deed  is  comparable  for  a  mo- 
ment to  the  multitude  of  little  gentlenesses 
performed  by  those  who  scatter  happiness  on 
every  side  and  strew  all  life  with  hope  and 
good  cheer. 

Life  holds  no  motive  for  stimulating  gentle- 
ness in  man  like  the  thought  of  the  gentleness 
of  God.  Unfortunately,  it  seems  difficult  for 
man  to  associate  delicacy  and  gentleness  with 

190 


The  Gentleness  of  True  Gianthood. 

vastness  and  strength.  It  was  the  misfortune 
of  Greek  philosophers  and  is,  indeed,  that  of 
nearly  all  the  modern  theologians,  to  supjoose 
that  a  perfect  being  cannot  suffer.  Both 
schools  of  thought  conceive  of  God  as  sitting 
upon  a  marble  throne,  eternally  young,  eter- 
nally beautiful,  beholding  with  quiet  indifference 
from  afar  how  man,  with  infinite  blunderings, 
sufferings  and  tears  makes  his  way  forward.  Yet 
He  who  holds  the  sun  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand, 
who  takes  up  the  isles  as  a  very  little  thing,  who 
counts  the  nations  but  as  the  dust  in  the 
balance,  is  also  the  gentle  One,  Like  the 
wide,  deep  ocean,  that  pulsates  into  every  bay 
and  creek  and  blesses  the  distant  isles  with  its 
dew  and  rain,  so  God's  heart  throbs  and  pul- 
sates unto  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  universe, 
having  a  parent's  sympathy  for  His  children 
who  suffer. 

Indeed,  the  seer  ranges  through  all  nature 
searching  out  images  for  interpreting  His 
all-comprehending  gentleness.  "Even  the 
bruised  reed  he  will  not  break."  Lifting  itself 
high  in  the  air,  a  mere  lead  pencil  for  size, 
weighted  with  a  heavy  top,  a  very  little  injury 
shatters  a  reed.  Some  rude  beast,  in  wild 
pursuit  of  prey,  plunges  through  the  swamp, 
shatters  the  reed,  leaves  it  lying  upon  the 
ground,   all  bruised  and  bleeding,   and  ready 

191 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

to  die.  Such  is  God's  gentleness  that,  though 
man  make  himself  as  worthless  as  a  bruised 
reed;  though  by  his  ignorance,  frailty  and  sin 
he  expel  all  the  manhood  from  his  heart  and 
life,  and  make  himself  of  no  more  value  than 
one  of  the  myriad  reeds  in  the  world's  swamps, 
still  doth  God  say:  "My  gentleness  is  such 
that  I  will  direct  upon  this  wounded  life 
thoughts  that  shall  recuperate  and  heal,  until 
at  last  the  bruised  reed  shall  rise  up  in 
strength,  and  judgment  shall  issue  in  vic- 
tory." 

And  as  God's  gentleness  would  go  one 
step  further,  there  is  added  the  tender  lesson 
of  the  smoking  flax.  Our  glowing  electric 
bulbs  suffer  no  injury  from  blasts,  and  our 
lamps  have  like  strength.  The  time  was, 
when,  wakened  by  the  cry  of  the  little  sufferer, 
the  ancient  mother  sprang  up  to  strike  the 
tinder  and  light  the  wick  in  the  cup  of  oil. 
Only  with  difficulty  was  the  tinder  kindled. 
Then  how  precious  the  spark  that  one  breath 
of  air  would  put  out!  With  what  eagerness 
did  the  mother  guard  the  smoking  flax!  And 
in  setting  forth  the  gentleness  of  God  it 
is  declared  that,  with  eyes  of  love.  He  searches 
through  each  heart,  and  if  He  find  so  much  as 
a  spark  of  good  in  the  outcast,  the  publican, 
the  sinner,  He  will  tend  that  spark  and  feed  it 

192 


y 


The  Gentleness  of  True  Gianthood. 

toward  the  love  that  shall  glow  and  sparkle 
forever  and  ever;  for  evil  is  to  be  conquered, 
and  God  will  not  so  much  punish  as  extex'mi- 
nate  sin  from  His  universe.  His  strength  is 
inflicted  toward  gentleness,  His  justice  tem- 
pered with  mercy,  and  all  his  attributes  held 
in  solution  of  love.  No  longer  should  medieval- 
ism becloud  God's  gentle  face.  Cleanse  your 
thoughts,  as  once  the  artist  in  Milan  cleansed 
the  grime  and  soot  from  the  wall  where  Dante's 
lustrous  face  was  hidden. 

With  shouts  and  ti'ansports  of  joy  and  ad- 
miration men  welcome  the  patriot  or  hei'o  who 
in  times  of  danger  held  the  destiny  of  the  peo- 
ple in  his  hands  and  never  once  betrayed  it. 
And  let  each  intellect  soar  without  hindrance, 
and  the  heart  pour  itself  out  before  God  in  a 
freshet  of  divine  love.  Great  is  the  genius  of  .  / 
Plato  or  Bacon,  revealing  itself  in  tides  of 
thought,  but  greater  and  richer  is  the  genius 
of  the  heart  that  is  conscious  of  vast,  deep 
fountains  of  love,  that  may  be  poured  forth 
in  generous  tides  before  the  God  whose  throne 
is  mercy,  whose  face  is  light,  whose  name  is 
love,  whose  strength  is  gentleness,  whose 
considei'ateness  is  our  pledge  of  pardon,  peace 
and  immortality. 


^93 


The  Thunder  of  Silent  Fidelity:   A 

Study  of  the  Influence  of 

Little  Things. 


•'  We  treat  God  with  irreverence  by  banishing  Him  from  our 
thoughts,  not  by  referring  to  His  will  on  slight  occasions.  His 
is  not  the  finite  authority  or  intelligence  which  cannot  be  troubled 
with  small  things.  There  is  nothing  so  small  but  that  we  may 
honor  God  by  asking  His  guidance  of  it,  or  insult  Him  by  taking 
it  into  our  own  hands  ;  and  what  is  true  of  Deity  is  equally  true 
of  His  Revelation.  We  use  it  most  reverently  when  most  habit- 
ually ;  our  insolence  is  in  ever  acting  without  reference  to  it,  our 
true  honoring  of  it  is  in  its  universal  application.  I  have  been 
blamed  for  the  familiar  introduction  of  its  sacred  words.  I  am 
grieved  to  have  given  pain  by  so  doing,  but  my  excuse  must  be 
my  wish  that  those  words  were  made  the  ground  of  every  argu- 
ment and  the  test  of  every  action.  We  have  them  not  often 
enough  on  our  lips,  nor  deeply  enough  in  our  memories,  nor 
loyally  enough  in  our  lives.  The  snow,  the  vapour  and  the  strong 
wind  fulfil  His  word.  Are  our  acts  and  thoughts  lighter  and 
wilder  than  these,  that  we  should  forget  it?" — Rusiin. 

*'  I  expect  to  pass  through  this  life  but  once.  If  there  is  any 
kindness  or  any  good  thing  I  can  do  to  my  fellow-beings  let  me 
do  it  now.      1  shall  pass  this  way  but  once." — ff^illiam  Penn. 


CHAPTER   X. 

The  Thunder  of  Silent  Fidelity:  A 

Study   of  the   Influence   of 

Little  Things. 

Schliemann,  uncovering  marbles  upon  which 
Phidias  and  his  followers  carved  out  immor- 
tality for  themselves,  has  not  wrought  more 
effectually  for  the  increase  of  knowledge  than 
have  those  excavators  in  Egypt  who  have 
uncovered  the  Rosetta  stone,  with  other  man- 
uscripts of  brick  and  marble.  Of  all  these 
instructive  tablets  and  tombs,  none  are  more 
interesting  than  one  picturing  forth  a  national 
festival  in  the  Jewish  capital.  Upon  his  can- 
vas of  stone  the  unknown  artist  portrays  for 
us  Herod's  temple  with  its  outer  courts  and 
columns  and  its  massive  walls. 

We  see  the  public  square  crowded  with  mer- 
chants and  traders,  who  have  come  in  from 
the  great  cities  of  the  world  to  this  festival  of 
the  fathers.  With  solemn  pageantry,  these 
Jews,  who  were  the  bankers  and  merchants  of 
that  far-off  age,  march  through  the  streets 
toward  the  gate  that  is  called  Beautiful.  In 
the  vast  parade  are  men  notable  by  their 
princely  wealth   in   Ephesus  and  Antioch,    in 

197 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

Alexandria  and  Rome.  We  see  one  advancing 
with  his  I'ctinue  of  servants,  another  with  the 
train  which  corresponds  to  his  wealth.  One 
gi'oup  the  artist  exhibits  as  characteristic. 
Advancing  before  their  lox'd  and  master  are 
four  servants,  who  lift  up  in  the  presence  of 
admiring  spectators  a  platter  upon  which  lies 
a  heap  of  shining  gold.  The  murmur  of  admi- 
ration that  runs  thi'ough  the  crowd  is  sweeter 
to  the  old  merchant's  ear  than  any  music  of 
harp  or  human  voice.  Passing  by  the  treas 
ury,  what  gifts  are  cast  upon  the  resounding 
table!  How  heavy  the  bars  of  gold!  What 
silver  plate!  What  pearls  and  jewels!  How 
rich  the  fabrics  and  hangings  for  the  temple! 
As  at  St.  Peter  in  the  sixteenth  century,  so 
in  Christ's  day  it  seemed  as  if  the  whole  world 
were  being  swept  for  treasures  for  enriching 
this  glorious  temple. 

But  when  the  lions  of  the  procession  had  all 
passed  by,  there  followed  also  the  crowd  of 
stragglers.  From  this  post  of  observation  we 
are  told  that  Christ  saw  a  poor  widow  advanc- 
ing. With  falling  tears,  yet  with  exquisite 
grace  and  tenderness,  she  cast  in  two  mites,  or 
one  half-penny,  then  passed  on  to  worship  him 
whom  she  loved,  all  unconscious  of  the  fact 
that  she  had  also  passed  into  immortality. 
For    the    noise    of    the    gold    falling  into  the 

198 


The  Thunder  of  Silent  Fidelity. 

resounding  chest  has  long  since  died  away. 
Jerusalem  itself  is  in  ruins.  The  old  temple 
with  its  magnificence  has  gone  to  decay.  The 
proud  thrones  and  monai'chies  have  all  fallen 
into  dust.  But  the  silent  fidelity  of  this  ob- 
scure woman  is  a  voice  that  thunders  down 
the  long  aisles  of  time,  A  thousand  times 
hath  she  encouraged  heroism  in  poet  and 
parent.  Ten  thousand  times  hath  she  been  an 
inspiration  to  refoi'mers  and  martyrs!  Love 
and  fidelity  have  embalmed  her  deed  and 
lent  her  immortality.  In  the  very  center  of 
the  world's  civilization  stands  her  monument. 
For  her  Arc  de  Triomphe  has  been  built  in 
the  human  heart.  Her  monument  does  not 
appeal  to  the  eye;  it  is  not  carved  in  stone; 
yet  it  is  more  permanent  than  gold,  and  her 
fame  outshines  all  flashing  jewels.  While  love 
and  admiration  endure  the  story  of  her  humble 
fidelity  shall  abide  indesti'uctible! 

The  great  Italian  first  noted  that  thrice  only 
did  Christ  stretch  forth  his  hand  to  build  a 
monument,  and  each  time  it  was  to  immortal- 
ize a  deed  of  humble  fidelity.  Once  a  disciple 
gave  a  cup  of  cold  water  to  one  of  God's  little 
ones,  and  won  thereby  imperishable  renown. 
Once  a  woman  broke  an  alabaster  box  for  her 
master,  and,  lo!  her  deed  has  been  like  a 
bi'oken    vase,  whoso   perfume  has  exhaled  for 

199 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

two  thousand  years,  and  shall  go  on  diffusing 
sweetness  to  the  end  of  time.  Last  of  all, 
after  the  rich  men  of  Alexandria  had  cast  their 
rattling  gold  into  the  brazen  treasury,  a  poor 
widow  cast  a  speck  of  dust  called  two  mites, 
and,  lo!  this  humble  deed  gave  her  enduring 
recollection. 

It  seems  that  immortal  renown  is  achieved 
not  so  much  by  the  solitary  deed  of  greatness 
as  by  humble  fidelity  to  life's  details,  and  that 
modest  Christian  living  that  regards  small 
deeds  and  minor  duties.  Ours  is  a  world  in 
which  life's  most  perfect  gifts  and  sweetest 
blessings  are  little  things.  Take  away  love, 
daily  work,  sweet  sleep,  and  palaces  become 
prisons  and  gold  seems  contemptible.  The 
classic  poet  tells  of  Kind  Midas,  to  whom  was 
offered  whatsoever  he  wished,  and  whose 
avarice  led  him  to  choose  the  golden  touch. 
But,  lo!  his  blessing  became  a  curse.  Rising 
to  dress  he  found  himself  shivering  in  a  coat 
with  threads  of  gold.  Going  into  his  garden 
he  stooped  to  breathe  the  perfume  of  the  roses, 
and,  lo!  the  dewy  petals  became  yellow  points 
that  pierced  his  face.  Breakfasting,  the  bread 
became  metal  in  his  mouth.  Lifting  a  goblet 
the  water  became  a  solid  mass.  Swinging  his 
little  daughter  in  his  arms  one  kiss  turned  the 
sweet  child  into  a  cold  statue.     A  single  hour 

200 


The  Thunder  of  Silent  Fidelity. 

availed  to  drive  happiness  from  Midas'  heart. 
In  an  agony  of  despair  he  besought  the  gods 
for  simple  things.  He  asked  for  one  cup  of 
cold  water,  one  cluster  of  fruit  and  his  little 
daughter's  loving  heart  and  hand. 

And  as  with  wealth,  so  wisdom  without  life's 
little  things  is  impotent  for  happiness.  Genius 
hath  its  charm;  nevertheless,  the  wisest  of 
men  have  also  been  the  saddest  of  men.  The 
story  of  literary  greatness  is  a  piteous  tale. 
History  tells  of  many  beautiful  and  gifted  girls 
who  have  married  scholars  for  their  genius, 
fame  and  position.  When  these  honors  were 
theirs  they  wakened  to  discover  that  all  were 
less  than  nothing,  since  tenderness  refused  its 
mite  and  sympathy  gave  not  its  cup  of  cold 
water.  Home  and  fame  became  dungeons  in 
which  the  soul  sat  and  famished  for  love's 
little  courtesies. 

For  no  palace  was  ever  so  beautiful,  no  royal 
wine  quaffed  from  vessels  of  gold  was  ever  so 
sweet  as  to  satisfy  hearts  famishing  for  one 
mite  of  that  heavenly  manna  love  prepares,  or 
one  cup  filled  with  kindness. 

Down  in  a  corner  of  a  window  of  an  English 
palace  may  be  found  faint  lines  scratched  with 
a  woman's  diamond.  What  a  tragedy  in  those 
words,  "  My  prison!  "  It  seems  the  sweet  girl, 
Jane  Grey,  entered  her  palace  with  a  leaping 

20I 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

heart,  but  her  lord  had  no  time  to  break  upon 
her  white  forehead  the  tiny  box  of  life's  oint- 
ment. Hers  was  the  palace;  hers  also  a  thou- 
sand rich  gifts  called  titles,  lands,  castles, 
maids  of  honor,  dresses,  jewels.  Yet  because 
the  castles  held  no  sweet  courtesies  the  jour- 
nal of  that  beautiful  girl  reminds  us  of  some 
young  bird  that  beats  with  bloody  wings 
against  the  bars  of  an  iron  cage.  For  life  is 
made  up  not  of  joys  few  and  intense,  but  of 
joys  many  and  gentle.  G-reat  happiness  is  the 
sum  of  many  small  drops.  God  makes  the 
days  that  are  channels  of  mighty  and  tumult- 
uous joys  to  be  few  and  far  between.  For 
highly  spiced  joys  exhaust.  All  who  seek 
intense  pleasure  will  find  not  enjoyment  but 
yearnings  for  enjoyment.  Happiness  is  in 
simple  things;  a  cup  of  cold  water,  health  and 
a  perfect  day;  dreamless  sleep,  honest  toil, 
the  esteem  of  the  worthy,  the  caresses  of  little 
children,  a  love  that  waxes  with  the  increasing 
years. 

Our  appreciation  of  the  principle  that  great- 
ness of  any  form  is  an  accumulation  of  little 
deeds  will  be  freshened  by  an  outlook  upon 
nature's  method.  The  old  science  unveiled 
the  universe  as  a  divine  thought  rushing  into 
instant  form,  stars  and  suns  being  sparks 
struck  out  on  the  anvil  of  omnipotence.     The 

202 


The  Thunder  of  Silent  Fidelity. 

new  science  has  found  that  earth's  every  atom 
has  been  slowly  polished  by  an  infinite  artisan 
and  architect.  If  we  descend  into  the  sea  we 
shall  find  that  the  reefs  and  islands  against 
which  the  tides  of  the  Pacific  dash  in  vain  are 
built  of  coral  insects,  whose  every  organ  ex- 
hibits the  delicate  skill  of  a  diamond  or  snow- 
flake.  If  we  stand  upon  the  fruitful  plain 
where  men  build  cities  we  shall  discern  that 
each  flake  of  the  rich  soil  represents  the  per- 
fect crystallization  of  drops  of  melted  granite. 
If  we  take  the  wings  of  the  morning  and 
dwell  upon  the  summit  of  the  Matterhorn 
there  also  we  find  that  the  mountain  hath  its 
height  and  majesty  through  particles  them- 
selves weak  and  little.  For  the  geologist  who 
analyzes  the  topmost  peak  of  the  Alpine  ridge 
must  go  back  to  a  little  flake  of  mica,  that 
ages  and  ages  ago  floated  along  some  one  of 
earth's  rivers,  too  light  to  sink,  too  feeble  to 
find  the  fiber  of  a  lichen,  therefore  dropped 
into  the  ooze  of  mire  and  decay.  Yet  hard- 
ened by  earth's  processes,  the  day  came  when 
that  flake  of  mica  was  lifted  up  upon  the 
mountain's  peak,  wrought  into  the  strength 
of  imperishable  ii'on,  "rustless  by  the  air,  in- 
fusible by  the  flame,  capping  the  very  summit 
of  the  Alpine  tower.  Above  it — that  little 
obscure  mica  flake — the  north  winds  rage,  yet 

203 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

all  in  vain;  below  it — the  feeble  mica  flake — 
the  snowy  hills  lie  bowing  themselves  like 
flocks  of  sheep,  and  the  distant  kingdoms  fade 
away  in  unregarded  blue."  Around  it — 
the  weak,  wave-drifted  mica  flake — booms  all 
the  artillery  of  storms,  when  electric  arrows 
with  blunted  points  fall  back  from  its  front,  as 
it  lifts  its  might  and  majesty  toward  the  endur- 
ing stars. 

If  ages  ago  the  sages  said,  God  is  not  in  the 
earthquake,  nor  in  the  storm,  but  in  the  still 
small  voice,  now  science  reaffii"ms  the  declara- 
tion that  omnipotence  is  revealed  not  so  much 
through  awful  cataclysms  and  earthquake 
forces  as  through  the  silent  agents  and  hidden 
processes  that  make  the  plains  to  be  fruitful 
and  hillsides  to  be  rich  in  corn.  In  the  past 
astronomy  has  been  the  favorite  science,  em- 
phasizing the  distant  stars  and  suns.  The 
science  of  the  future  is  to  be  chemistry, 
emphasizing  atoms  and  elements.  Journeying 
outward  in  pursuit  of  the  footsteps  of  God, 
advancing  upon  his  distant  and  dizzy  march, 
man's  vision  faints  and  falls  upon  the  horizon 
beyond  which  are  indiscernible  splendors. 
Journeying  inward  upon  the  wings  of  the 
microscope,  we  .shall  find  that  there  is  an- 
other   realm    of    beauty    beyond    which    the 

*Ruskin'3  Modern  Painters,  Vol.  iv.,  page  284. 

204 


The  Thunder  of  Silent  Fidelity. 

utmost  vision  of  man  cannot  pierce.  For  be- 
fore the  microscope  "the  last  discernible 
particle  dies  out  of  sight  with  the  same  perfect 
glory  on  it  as  on  the  last  orb  that  glimmers  in 
the  skirts  of  the  universe."  If  God  is  throned 
in  the  clouds  He  is  also  tabernacled  in  the 
dewdrop  and  palaced  in  the  bud  and  blossom. 

The  history  of  nations  and  individuals 
teaches  us  that  the  greatest  gifts  are  poor 
and  empty  and  the  most  signal  talents  worth- 
less if  the  small  things  be  not  done,  the  two 
mites  be  not  given.  ^  For  life  is  marred  by 
little  infelicites  and  ruined  by  little  errors. 
The  broken  columns  and  marble  heaps  in  lands 
where  once  were  cities  represent  destructions 
not  so  much  through  tornadoes  and  earth- 
quakes as  through  small  vices  and  unnoticed 
sins.  In  modern  life  also,  journeying  through 
city  and  forest  and  field,  the  economist  returns 
to  tell  us  that  life's  chief  wastes  are  through 
little  enemies  and  foes.  It  is  a  minute  bug 
that  steals  the  golden  berry  fi*om  the  wheat; 
it  is  a  tiny  gei'm  upon  the  leaf  that  blights  the 
budding  peach  and  pear;  it  is  a  rough  spot 
upon  the  potato  that  fills  all  Ireland  with  fear 
of  famine;  it  is  a  worm  that  bores  through  the 
planks  of  the  ship's  hull  and  alarms  old  sea- 
captains  as  approaching  battleships  could  not 

The  enemies  of  human  life  are  not  enemies 

205 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

that  fill  man's  streets  with  banners  and  charg- 
ing cannon.  We  wage  war  against  the  dust 
mote  ambushed  in  the  sunbeam;  we  fight 
against  weapons  hurled  from  those  battleships 
called  drops  of  impure  water;  we  wrestle  with 
those  hosts  whose  broadsides  invisible  rise 
from  streets  foul,  or  fall  from  poisoned  clouds. 
Such  enemies  that  lurk  in  dampness  and  dark- 
ness, a  thousand  fall  at  thy  side  and  ten 
thousand  at  thy  right  hand.  That  great 
catastrophe  that  overtook  Holland  a  century 
ago  is  not  explained  by  a  tidal  wave  that 
pierced  through  the  dikes;  the  disaster  was 
through  the  crawfishes  that  opened  tiny  holes 
and,  weakening  the  bulwarks,  let  in  the  on- 
rushing  sea. 

It  was  but  a  trifling  error  also  that  robbed 
the  generations  of  one  of  man's  divinest  pic- 
tures. Three  hundred  years  ago  the  monks 
made  tight  and  strong  the  roof  above  the  room 
where  was  Da  Vinci's  "Last  Supper. "  A  thou- 
sand tiles  were  fastened  down  and  all  save  one 
were  perfect.  The  one  hid  a  secret  hole. 
When  months  had  passed  and  the  driving  storm 
came  from  the  right  direction  the  rain  found 
out  that  hidden  fault  and,  rushing  in,  a  flood 
of  drops  streamed  down  o'er  the  wall  and 
made  a  great  black  mark  across  the  noble 
painting,  and  ruined  the  central  face  forever. 

206 


The  Thunder  of  SiJent  Fideh'ty. 

Human  life  is  ruined  through  the  absence  of 
humble  virtues  and  the  presence  of  little 
faults.  There  is  no  man  so  great,  no  gift  so 
brilliant,  but  let  it  be  whispered  that  there  is 
falseness  in  the  life  of  the  hero,  and  immedi- 
ately his  greatness  is  dwarfed,  his  eloquence 
becomes  a  trick,  his  authority  is  impaired. 
Reading  Robert  Burns'  poems,  he  seems 
wiser  than  all  the  scholars,  wittier  than  all  the 
humorists,  more  courtly  than  princes.  His 
genius  blazes  like  a  torch  among  the  tapers. 
But  watching  this  son  of  genius  and  of  liberty 
weave  a  net  for  his  own  feet,  and  fashion  a 
snare  for  his  own  faculties,  with  wistful  hearts 
we  long,  as  one  has  said,  "to  hear  the  exult- 
ing and  triumphant  cry  of  the  strong  man 
coming  to  himself,  I  will  arise."  But  beloved 
the  barroom  more  than  the  library,  and  so  fell 
on  death  at  seven  and  thirty,  and  lost  his 
right  to  rule  as  a  king  o'er  men's  hearts  and 
lives.  Byron,  too,  and  Goethe  had  gifts  so 
resplendent  that  in  kings'  palaces  they  shine 
like  diamonds  amid  the  pebbles.  What  a  con- 
stellation of  gifts  was  theirs!  Culture,  sanity, 
imagination,  wit,  courage,  vigor — all  these 
stars  were  grouped  in  their  mental  constella- 
tions! Yet  little  vices  dethroned  these  kings 
and  made  them  plebeian.  It  is  the  absence  of 
little  virtues  and  sweet  domestic  graces  that 

207 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

seem  trifling  as  the  two  mites  that  robs  the 
Roman  poets  and  orators  of  their  power  over 
us.  They  had  urbanites  indeed,  flowers,  music, 
art,  oratory,  letters,  song.  The  events  of 
each  day  were  executed  like  a  piece  of  music, 
and  even  their  sarcophagi  were  covered  with 
scenes  of  feasting  and  revelry.  But  they  were 
not  true;  and  that  false  note  jars  through 
all  their  pages.  Harshness  in  the  poet  and 
pride  in  the  orator  make  their  refinement  and 
culture  seem  but  skin  deep. 

We  note  that  Pompeii  was  a  paradise  built 
beside  a  crater.  The  traveler  tells  us  if  we 
strike  the  rocky  earth  it  rings  hollow.  Close 
by  the  calm  lake  is  a  boiling  spring.  In  the 
very  heart  of  the  orange  groves  rises  a  column 
of  smoke  and  steam.  "The  mist  of  lava  jars 
on  the  music  of  summer,  the  scent  of  sulphur 
mingles  with  the  scent  of  roses."  Not  for  a 
moment  can  the  traveler  forget  that  beneath  all 
this  opulence  of  color  and  fragrance  rages  a 
colossal  furnance.  Thus  the  harshness  and 
selfishness  found  in  the  eloquence  and  poetry 
of  the  ancient  writers  rob  us  of  all  joy  in 
their  splendid  gifts.  We  yield  homage  only 
to  the  greatness  that  is  also  goodness.  To 
ten-talent  power  the  hero  must  also  add  ten- 
derness to  his  own,  kindness  to  the  weak, 
unfailing  sympathy  to  all.     No  giant  is  a  full 

208 


The  Thunder  of  Silent  Fidelity. 

giant  until  he  is  also  gentle,  stooping  to  give 
his  two  mites  to  the  weak,  bearing  to  the 
weary  his  cup  of  cold  water,  ever  emulating 
that  hero,  Sir  Philip  Sydney,  wounded  sorely 
indeed,  but  pushing  away  the  canteen  because 
the  soldier,  suffering  great  pain,  had  greater 
need. 

In  one  of  his  essays  Lowell  notes  that  the 
great  reform  monuments  are  the  humble  deeds  of 
humble  persons,  taken  up  and  repeated  by  an 
entire  people.  The  final  victories  for  liberty 
and  religion  are  emblazoned  upon  monuments 
and  celebrated  in  song  and  story,  but  the  be- 
ginnings of  these  achievements  for  mankind 
are  often  given  over  to  obscurity  and  forget- 
fulness.  Our  age  makes  much  of  the  "Red 
Cross  "  movement.  Hardly  fifty  years  have 
passed  since  two  English  girls  boai^ded 
the  steamer  that  was  to  cany  them 
to  the  Crimea.  Upon  the  distant  battle- 
fields, with  their  deserted  cannon,  wounded 
horses  and  dying  men,  at  first  these  gentle 
gii'ls  seemed  strangely  out  of  place.  The 
hospitals  were  full;  neglected  soldiers  were 
lying  in  the  thickets,  whither  they  had 
crawled  to  die.  Counseling  with  none, 
these  brave  girls  moved  across  the  battle- 
fields like  angels  of  mercy.  Manj''  years 
have     passed.        Now     these     nurses     bring 

209 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

hope  to  every  battlefield,  and  minister  to 
every  stricken  Armenia,  for  the  story  of  that 
sweet  girl  has  filled  the  earth  with  "King's 
Daughtei-s."  One  hundred  years  ago  also 
England  left  her  orphan  babes  to  grow  up  in 
the  country  poorhouse,  midst  surroundings 
often  vulgar,  profane  and  brutal.  One  day 
two  sweet  babes,  unnamed  and  un welcomed, 
lay  in  the  garret  of  a  county-house  in  the 
outskirts  of  London.  Then  a  poor,  half-witted 
spinster,  hearing  of  the  young  mother's  death, 
found  her  way  to  the  garret,  brooded  o'er  the 
babes  with  all  the  dignity  of  our  Mother  of 
Sorrows,  took  the  babes  to  her  heart  and 
planned  how,  with  six  shillings  a  week,  she 
might  keep  bread  in  three  hungry  mouths. 
Four  years  passed  by,  and  one  day  the  lord  of 
the  manor  stayed  a  moment  before  this 
woman's  hovel  and  heard  her  prayer  for  the 
two  boys  clinging  to  her  skirts,  Soon  the 
story  of  the  woman's  mercy  was  heard  in  every 
English  pulpit,  and  in  every  town  men  and 
women  made  their  way  to  the  county-houses 
to  take  away  the  orphan  babes  and  found  in- 
stead some  asylum  for  God's  little  ones.  Now 
noble  men  in  distant  lands  plan  homes  and 
shelter  for  little  children,  and  the  work  of  the 
obscure  woman  is  a  part  of  the  history  of 
reform. 

2IO 


The  Thunder  of  Silent  Fidelity. 

Humble  also  is  the  origin  of  the  anti-slavery 
movement  that  won  its  final  victory  at  Appo- 
mattox. A  century  and  more  ago  a  young 
Moravian  made  his  way  to  Jamaica  as  a  Herald 
of  Christ  and  his  message  of  good-will.  The 
horrors  of  slavery  in  that  far-off  time  cannot 
be  understood  by  our  age.  Then  each  week 
some  African  slaver  landed  with  its  carpfo  of 
naked  creatures.  Slaves  wei'e  so  cheap  that 
it  was  simpler  to  kill  them  with  rapid  work 
and  purchase  new  ones  than  to  care  for  the 
wants  of  captives  weakened  by  several  sum- 
mers. What  horrors  under  overseers  in  the 
field  !  What  outrages  in  slave-market  and 
pen  !  So  grievous  were  the  wrongs  negroes 
suffered  at  white  men's  hands  that  they  would 
not  listen  to  this  young  teacher.  At  last, 
despairing  of  their  confidence,  the  brave  youth 
had  himself  sold  as  a  slave  and  wrought  in  the 
fields  under  the  overseer's  lash.  Fellowship 
with  their  sufferings  won  their  confidence  and 
love.  When  the  day's  task  was  done  the  poor 
creatures  crowded  about  him  to  receive  Clirist's 
cup  of  cold  water.  Long  years  after  the 
young  hero  had  fallen  upon  the  sugar  planta- 
tion his  story  came  to  the  ears  of  young  Wil- 
berforce  and  armed  him  with  courage  invinci- 
ble against  England's  traffic  in  flesh  and  blood. 
Soon  Parliament  freed  the  West  India  slaves 

211 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

and  Lincoln  emancipated  our  freedmen.  But 
side  by  side  with  the  hei'oes  of  liberty  famed 
through  monument  and  solemn  oration,  let  us 
mention  the  young  Moravian  hero  who  loved 
Christ's  little  ones,  and  in  giving  "two  mites 
and  a  cup  of  cold  water,"  lost  his  life,  indeed, 
but  found  immortal  fame. 

This  modest  deed  that  bought  renown  also 
tells  us  that  enduring  remembrance  is  possible 
for  all.  Great  deeds  the  majority  cannot  do. 
Two-talent  men  march  in  millions,  but  the  ten- 
talent  men  are  few  and  far  between.  Many 
scientists — one  Newton.  Thousands  of  poets — 
but  the  Elizabethan  eras  are  separated  by  cen- 
turies. Great  is  the  company  of  the  orators — 
but  to  each  generation  only  one  Webster  and  one 
Clay.  As  each  continent  hath  but  one  moun- 
tain range,  so  the  elect  minds  stand  isolated 
in  the  ages.  All  greatness  is  mysterious,  and 
like  God's  throne,  genius  is  girt  about  with 
clouds  and  darkness.  If  great  men  are  infre- 
quent, the  world's  need  of  great  men  is  as  oc- 
casional. Society  advances  in  happiness  and 
culture,  not  through  striking,  dramatic  acts, 
but  through  myriads  of  unnumbei'ed  and  un- 
noticed deeds. 

Even  the  heroes  dying  upon  the  battlefield 
ask  not  for  Plato  nor  Bacon,  but  for  a  cup  of 
cold  water.     To  Benedict  Arnold,  dying  in  his 

212 


The  Thunder  of  Silent  FideHty. 

garret,  came  a  physician,  who  said,  "Is  there 
anything  you  wish  ?"  and  heard  this  answer: 
"Only  a  friend."  Traitors  sometimes  each  of 
us  also.  Traitors  to  our  deepest  convictions 
and  our  highest  ideals,  and  in  the  hours  when 
the  fever  of  discontent  burns  fiercely  within 
us,  and  the  mind  seems  half- delirious  in  its 
trouble,  we  also  ask  for  a  friend  bringing  a 
mite  of  sympathy  and  a  cup  of  cold  water. 
Let  us  confess  it — we  are  all  famishing  for  love 
and  the  kind  word  that  saysv  "In  your 
Gethsemane  you  are  not  alonej" 

God  secures  for  us  our  happiness,  not 
through  speech  about  the  heavens  and  fiima- 
ment,  but  through  the  comfort  that  comes 
through  speech  over  little  things.  He  feeds 
the  birds,  adorns  the  lily,  clothes  the  grass, 
numbers  man's  troubles.  He  is  the  Shepherd 
seeking  the  one  sheep,  the  father  waiting  for 
the  lost  son.  His  kingdom  is  a  little  leaven 
working  in  the  world's  meal,  His  truth  being 
no  larger  than  a  grain  of  mustard-seed. 
Above  each  little  one  bows  some  guardian 
angel  beholding  the  face  of  its  heavenly 
Father.  And  He  who  unites  grains  of  sand 
for  making  planets  and  rays  of  light  for  glori- 
ous suns,  and  blades  of  grass  for  the  solid 
splendor  of  field  and  pasture  and  drops  of 
water  for  the  ocean  that  blesses   every  conti- 

213 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

nent  with  its  dew  and  rain,  teaches  us  also 
that  great  pi'inciples  will  organize  the  little 
words,  little  prayers,  little  aspirations  and 
little  services  into  the  full-orbed  splendor  of 
an  enduring  character  and  an  immortal  fame 
Ha2)pily  none  need  journey  far  nor  search 
long  for  opportunities  of  humble  fidelity  Into 
our  midst  come  each  year  thousands  of  boys 
who  are  strangers  in  the  great  city.  Passing 
along  the  streets  these  lonely  lads  behold  each 
horse  having  some  friendly  hand  to  cai'e  for  it. 
Yea!  each  sleek  dog  hath  some  owner's  name 
engraven  on  the  collar  for  the  neck.  But  for 
the  youth,  weeks  pass  by,  and  no  face  lifts  a 
friendly  smile;  no  hand  is  outstretched  in 
gentle  kindness,  and  oft  the  thought  is  bitter: 
"No  man  careth  for  my  soul."  The  youth 
who  sits  in  the  seat  beside  you  asks  only  that 
the  leaflet  be  shared  in  brotherliness,  and  you 
may  lift  upon  the  discouraged  one  a  smile  that 
saith:  "Once  the  battle  went  sore  with  me, 
also,  but  be  of  good  cheer,  you  shall  over- 
come." Such  friendliness  is  the  two  mites 
that  buy  enduring  rembrance.  For  if  each 
must  fight  his  own  battles,  face  for  himself 
the  spectres  of  doubt,  and  slay  them;  if  each 
must  be  his  own  surgeon  and  draw  the  iron 
from  the  soul,  still  sympathy  is  a  precious 
boon,  and  it  is  given  to  man  to  give  the  cup 

214 


The  Thunder  of  Silent  Fidelity. 

of  tenderness  to  the  warrior  sorely  wounded  iu 
life's   battle.     In    ancient    times   when    men's 
cabins  were  built  on  the  edge  of  the   wilder- 
ness, not  yet  cleared  of  wild  beasts,  sometimes 
the  little  ones  wandered   from    the  path  and 
were  lost  in  the  forest,  until  the  cry  of  terror 
revealed   the    awful     danger    that    threatened 
and  caused   the  mother   to  speed  forth   with 
winged    feet   and    lift    her    body    as   a    shield 
against   the  enemy.      Daily   these  scenes   are 
re-enacted,    not    in    songs    and    dramas,    but 
through    the   work   of    those   who  rescue   the 
city's    children    from    squalor,    filth    and   sin. 
What  redemptions  man's  little  deeds  do  bring  ! 
For  $30,000  Peter  Faneuil  bought  immor- 
tality and  forever   associated   his  name   with 
liberty.     To-day   that  amount  will   erect  the 
social  settlement  in  the  needy  quarter  of  some 
city  and  give  hundreds  of  young  people  oppor- 
tunity and  field  for  Bible-schools,   kindergar- 
tens, nursery,   gymnasium,   mothers'    classes, 
men's  clubs,  singing-schools  and  also  associate 
man  s  name  with  the  happiness  and  civilization 
of  an  entire  community.     Mammon  will  care 
for    the  children   of  strength    and    good    for- 
tune, and  fame  will  guard  the  sons  of  success ; 
let   us    guard    the    weak    and   lowly.     In   the 
Roman  triumph,  when  a   general  came  home 
with  his  spoils,  many  captives  went  with  his 

215 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

chariot  up  to  the  capital.  And  happy  'twill 
be  for  us  if  in  the  hour  when  the  sunset  gun 
shall  sound  and  we  pass  beyond  the  flood  God's 
little  ones  mourn  us  with  teai's  of  gratitude 
while  all  the  trunipets  sound  for  us  on  the 
other  side 


2l6 


Influence,  and  the  Strategic  Ele- 
ment IN  Opportunity. 


"  And  now,  gentlemen,  was  this  vast  campaign  fought  with- 
out a  general  ?  If  Trafalgar  could  not  be  won  without  the  mind 
of  a  Nelson,  or  Waterloo  without  the  mind  of  a  Wellington,  was 
there  no  one  mind  to  lead  these  innumerable  armies,  on  whose 
success  depended  the  future  of  the  whole  human  race  ?  Did  no 
one  marshal  them  in  that  impregnable  convex  front,  from  the 
Euxine  to  the  North  Sea  ?  No  one  guide  them  to  the  two 
great  strategic  centres  of  the  Black  Forest  and  Trieste  ?  No  one 
cause  them,  blind  barbarians  without  maps  or  science,  to  follow 
those  rules  of  war  without  which  victory  in  a  protracted  struggle 
is  impossible  :  and  by  the  pressure  of  the  Huns  behind,  force  on 
their  flagging  myriads  to  an  enterprise  which  their  simplicity  fan- 
cied at  first  beyond  the  powers  of  mortal  men  ?  Believe  it  who 
will:   I  cannot. 

"  But  while  I  believe  that  not  a  stone  or  a  handful  of  mud 
gravitates  into  its  place  without  the  will  of  God  ;  that  it  was  or- 
dained, ages  since,  into  what  particular  spot  each  grain  of  gold 
should  be  washed  down  from  an  Australian  quartz  reef,  that  a  cer- 
tain man  might  find  it  at  a  certain  moment  and  crisis  of  his  life — 
if  I  be  superstitious  enough  (as  thank  God  I  am)  to  hold  that 
creed,  shall  I  not  believe  that  though  this  great  war  had  no  general 
upon  earth,  it  may  have  had  a  general  in  Heaven  ;  and  that  in 
spite  of  all  their  sins  the  hosts  of  our  forefathers  were  the  hosts  of 
God  ?" — Char Ui  Kingiley. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Influence,  and  the  Strategic  Element 
IN  Opportunity. 

The  history  of  a  Jewish  battle  includes  a 
dramatic  incident.  In  the  thick  of  the  fight 
an  officer  brought  to  one  of  his  soldiers  an  im- 
portant prisonei\  "Keep  thou  this  man," 
said  he,  "  with  the  utmost  vigilance.  Upon 
his  person  hang  the  issues  of  this  campaign. 
His  skill  in  leading  the  enemy,  his  courage  and 
treachery  have  cost  our  side  many  lives.  If 
by  any  means  thou  shalt  suffer  him  to  escape 
thy  life  shall  be  for  his  life." 

Then,  straining  more  tightly  the  cords 
knotted  around  the  prisoner's  hands  and  feet, 
the  officer  turned  and  plunged  again  into  the 
thick  of  the  fight.  From  that  moment  the 
soldier's  one  duty  was  to  guard  the  prisoner 
whose  escape  would  work  such  havoc. 

Strangely  enough,  he  became  negligent. 
Careless,  he  leaned  his  bow  and  spear  against 
the  tent.  Hungry,  he  busied  himself  with 
baking  a  few  small  cakes.  Weary,  he  cast 
himself  upon  the  ground,  dozing  upon  his 
elbow.  Suddenly  a  noise  startled  his  nap. 
He  sprang  up  just  in  time  to  see  his  prisoner 

219 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

make  one  leap,  then  disappear  into  the  thicket. 

A  concealed  knife  had  cut  the  thongs.  Neg- 
ligence had  let  "slip  the  dogs  of  war."  That 
night  when  the  general  returned  to  his  tent  he 
found  the  prisoner  had  escaped. 

Fronting  his  master  the  terror-sti'icken 
soldier  had  no  excuse  to  offer  save  this: 
"  While  thy  servant  was  busy  here  and  there 
the  man  was  gone."  Gone  opportunity  ! — and 
lightning  could  not  equal  its  swift  flight. 
Gone  forever  opportunity  ! — and  the  wings  of 
seraphim  could  not  overtake  and  bring  it  back. 
Gone  honor,  gone  fidelity,  gone  good  name  ! — 
all  lost  irretrievably.  For  though  dying  be 
long  delayed,  coming  at  last  death  would  find 
the  soldier's  task  unfulfilled.  From  "It  might 
have  been,"  and  "It  is  too  late,"  God  save  us 
all  !  For  not  Infinity  himself  can  reverse  the 
wheel  of  events  and  bring  back  lost  opportuni- 
ties. 

The  genius  of  opportunity  lies  in  its  strategic 
element.  In  every  opportunity  two  or  more 
forces  meet  in  such  a  way  that  the  one  force 
so  lends  itself  to  the  other  as  momentarily  to 
yield  plasticity.  Nature  is  full  of  these 
strategic  times.  Iron  passes  into  the  furnace 
cold  and  unyielding;  coming  out  it  quickly 
cools  and  refuses  the  mold;  but  midway  is  a 
moment  when  fire  so  lends  itself  to  iron,  and 

220 


The  Strategic  Element  in  Opportunity. 

iron  so  yields   its  force   to  flame  as  that  the 
metal  flows  like  water. 

This  brief  plastic  moment  is  the  inventor's 
opportunity,  when  the  metal  will  take  on  any 
shape  for  use  or  beauty.  Similarly  the  fields 
off'er  a  strategic  time  to  the  husbandman. 
In  February  the  soil  refuses  the  plow,  the  sun 
refuses  heat,  the  sky  refuses  rain,  the  seed  re- 
fuses growth.  In  May  comes  an  opportune 
time  when  all  forces  conspire  toward  harvests; 
then  the  sun  lends  warmth,  the  clouds  lend 
rain,  the  air  lends  ardor,  the  soil  lends  juices. 
Then  must  the  sower  go  forth  and  sow,  for 
nature  whispers  that  if  he  neglects  June  he 
will  starve  in  January. 

The  planets  also  lend  interpretation  to  this 
principle.  Years  ago  our  nation  sent  astrono- 
mers to  Africa  to  witness  the  transit  of  Venus. 
Preparations  began  months  beforehand.  A 
ship  was  fitted  up,  instruments  packed,  the 
ocean  crossed,  a  site  selected  and  the  tele- 
scopes mounted.  Scientists  made  all  thing3 
ready  for  that  opportune  time  when  the  sun 
and  Venus  and  earth  should  all  be  in  line. 
That  critical  moment  was  very  brief.  In- 
stinctively each  astronomer  knew  that  his  eye 
must  be  at  the  small  end  of  the  glass  when  the 
planet  went  scudding  by  the  large  end.  Once 
the  period  of  conjunction  had  passed  no  ma- 

221 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

chinery  would  offer  itself  for  turning  the 
planet  back  upon  her  axis.  Not  for  astrono- 
mers only  are  the  opportune  times  brief.  For 
all  men  alike,  failure  is  blindness  to  the 
strategic  element  in  events;  success  is  readi- 
ness for  instant  action  when  the  opportune 
moment  arrives.  When  nature  has  fully 
ripened  an  opportunity  man  must  stretch  out 
his  hand  and  pluck  it.  Inventions  may  be  de- 
fined as  great  minds  detecting  the  strategic 
moment  in  nature;  Galileo  finding  a  lens  in 
the  ox's  eye;  Watt  witnessing  steam  lift  an 
iron  lid;  Columbus  observing  an  unknown 
wood  drifting  upon  the  shore.  To  untold 
multitudes  nature  offered  these  opportune  mo- 
ments for  discovery,  but  only  Galileo,  Watt 
and  Columbus  were  ready  to  seize  them.  As 
for  the  rest,  this  is  our  only  answer  to  nature: 
"While  thy  servant  was  busy  here  and  there, 
the  strategic  moment  was  gone." 

This  majestic  principle  often  appears  in  his- 
tory. There  is  a  strategy  in  Providence. 
Nations,  like  individuals,  have  their  crisis 
^  hours.  Through  events  God  makes  all  society 
plastic,  and  then  raises  up  some  great  man  to 
stamp  his  image  and  superscription  upon  the 
nation's  hot  and  glowing  heart.  As  scholars 
move  back  along  the  pathway  of  history,  they 
discern   in  each  great  epoch   these  strategic 

222 


The  Strategic  Element  in  Opportunity. 

conditions.      How  oppoi'tune  the  moment  when  \y 

Jesus  Christ  appeared  ! 

Alexander's  march  had  scattered  eveiy 
whither  the  seeds  of  learning;  the  Greek  lan- 
guage had  turned  the  whole  world  into  one 
great  whispering  gallery,  in  which  the  nations 
were  assembled;  all  the  provinces  around  the 
Mediterranean  were  linked  together  by  the 
newly  completed  system  of  roads;  the  Roman 
judge  was  in  every  town  to  set  forth  the 
rights  of  citizens  of  the  empire;  the  Roman  ^y 

soldier  was  there  to  protect  all  who  brought 
messages  of  peace;  the  long-expected  hour  had 
struck.  Then  Christianity  set  forth  from 
Bethlehem  upon  its  errand  of  love.  Along 
every  highway  ran  the  eager  feet  of  the  mes- 
sengers of  peace  and  good-will.  Events  were 
fully  ripe,  and  soon  Christianity  was  upon  the 
throne  of  the  CaBsars. 

How  strategic  that  epoch  called  the  fourth 
century!  He  who  sat  in  Caesar's  palace  looked 
out  upon  a  dying  empii'e.  The  old  race  was 
worn  out  with  war  and  wine  and  wealth  and 
luxury.  Civilization  seemed  about  to  perish, 
and  society  was  fast  sinking  back  into  barbar- 
ism. To  the  north  of  the  Alps  were  the  forest 
children,  ruddy  and  robust,  with  their  glorious 
youth  full  upon  them.  These  young  giants 
needed  the  dying  language  and  literature  and 

223 


7 


The  Investment  of  Influence, 

religion,  and  these  gi'eat  institutions   needed 
their  young,    fresh   blood.     But   between  lay 
the   granite    walls    builded    from   sea    to  sea. 
Now  mark  what  Charles  Kingsley  called  "the 
strategy   of   Providence."      Suddenly  a   blind 
impluse    fell   upon    the  forest  children.     Two 
columns   started  southward.      The  one  rested 
upon   the  North  Sea  and  marched  southeast; 
the  other  rested  upon  the  Ural  Mountains  and 
marched    southwest;    the    two   met   and  con- 
verged    upon     Trieste.       Without     maps    or 
military  tactics  or  plans,  wholly  ignorant  that 
Napoleon's  favorite  method  of  attack  was  be- 
ing carried  out  by  them,   these  two  columns 
converged  toward  the  Alpine  pass,  and  for  ten 
years  pounded  and  pounded  against  the  Roman 
walls  until   these  yielded  and  fell.      Then  the 
forest  children   poured   down    into    the   vine- 
yards   and  villages    and    cities    of  the    dying 
empire.      Multitudes  remained  to    intermarry 
and  preserve   the  dying    race.     Other  multi- 
tudes returned  to  their  old  home  to  sow  the 
northern  forests  with  those  great  ideas  that 
were  to  carry  civilization   through    the  long 
night  of  the  dark  ages. 

Another  strategic  hour  came  in  the  thir- 
teenth century.  Then  all  Europe  was  stirred 
with  new  and  awakening  life.  It  was  dawn 
after    darkness.     Constantinople     had    fallen 

224 


y 


The  Strategic  Element  in  Opportunity. 

and  scholars  laden  with  manuscripts  went 
forth  to  sow  Europe  with  the  new  learning. 
The  times  were  fully  ripe  for  another  great 
forward  movement  for  society.  Only  one 
thing  was  lacking — great  men  for  leaders.  In 
that  strategic  crisis  six  leaders  appeared. 
God  gave  each  wing  of  the  army  of  civilization 
a  genius  for  its  general.  Copernicus  over- 
threw superstition  and  brought  in  science; 
Luther  gave  religion,  Gutenberg  the  printing- 
press,  Calvin  individualism,  Michael  Angelo 
art  and  the  beautiful,  Erasmus  critical  scholar- 
ship; and  because  the  old  world  was  filled  with 
debris,  and  the  new  ideas  needed  room,  Colum- 
bus gave  the  new  world,  offering  what  Emerson 
calls  "the  last  opportunity  of  Providence  for 
the  human  race."  Surely  this  was  a  strat- 
egic moment  in  history,  giving  each  citizen 
unique  opportunity, 
^he  strategic  element  enters  into  the  indi- 
vidual career.  Destiny  is  determined  by  our 
use  of  our  critical  hours.  It  is  as  if  life's 
great  issues  were  staked  upon  a  single  throw. 
Not  but  that  the  forces  we  neglect  are 
permanent.  It  is  that  the  strategic  con- 
dition has  passed  out  of  themT^  The 
sluggard  driving  his  plow  into  the  field 
in  July  has  sun,  soil  and  seed,  but  the  torrid 
summer  refuses    to  perform  the   gentle   pro- 

225 


/ 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

cesses  of  April,  The  man  who  in  youth's 
strategic  days  denied  to  memory  the  great 
facts  of  nature  and  history,  in  maturer  years 
still  has  his  memory,  but  the  plasticity  has 
gone.  It  now  refuses  to  hold  the  facts  he  gives 
it.  The  Latin  poet  interprets  our  principle  by 
the  story  of  the  maiden  in  the  boat,  holding 
her  hand  in  the  water  while  she  toyed 
with  a  string  of  pearls  until  the  string 
snapped  and  the  treasure  sank  into  the  abyss. 
The  miner  interprets  opportunity  lost 
through  him  who,  for  a  rifle  and  a  blanket, 
traded  a  rich  copper  mine  that  has  since  paid 
its  owner  millions.  The  historian  interprets 
it  by  Napoleon's  bitter  signal  to  his  General, 
tardy  at  Waterloo,  "Too  late!  the  critical 
hour  has  passed. "  Froude  interprets  it  through 
the  old  hero  bitterly  condemning  himself  over 
his  wife's  grave,  knowing  that  his  wild  love 
and  fierce  outburst  of  affection  were  impotent 
now  to  warm  the  heart  that  froze  to  death  in 
a  home. 

Ruskin  interprets  it  through  a  nation  that 
allowed  her  noblest  to  descend  into  the  grave, 
garlanding  the  tombstone  when  they  refused 
to  crown  the  brow;  paying  honors  to  ashes  that 
were  denied  to  spirit;  wreathing  immortelles 
only  when  they  had  no  use  save  for  laying  on 
a  grave  where  was  one  dead  of  a  broken  heart 

lid 


The  Strategic  Element  in  Opportunity. 

through  a  nation's  ingratitude.  Above  all, 
Jesus  Christ  interprets  it  at  midnight  in  Geth- 
seraane,  when  he  saw  the  torches  fluttering  in 
the  darkness,  heard  the  clanking  of  sabers 
and  soldiers'  ai'mor,  and  in  sad,  reproachful 
irony  wakened  his  disciples  with  these  words: 
"Sleep  on,  now;  sleep  forever  if  you  will  ! 
Henceforth  no  stress  of  your  vigilance  can 
help  me;  no  negligence  of  your  duty  can  harm 
me  beyond  the  harm  you  have  already  wrought. 
Take  your  ease  now.  Sleep;  the  opportunity 
has  gone."  Then  was  the  disciples'  joy  turned 
into  mourning,  and  for  garments  of  praise  did 
they  put  on  ashes  and  sackcloth.  An  irre- 
parable loss  was  theirs.  Yet  for  all  of  us  each 
neglected  duty  means  a  tragedy.  It  is  always 
now  or  never.  The  treasure  wrapped  up  in 
each  strategic  opportunity  is  of  infinite  value. 
To-morrow  can  hold  no  joy  when  yestei-day 
holds  this  memory:  "While  I  was  busy  here 
and  there  my  opportunity  was  gone." 

How  strategic  the  period  of  youth  !  Then 
the  chiefest  forces  of  life  flow  together  in  sen- 
sitive conjunction.  Then  four  great  gifts  like 
four  great  rivers  unite  in  one  majestic  current 
to  bear  up  the  young  man's  enterprises,  and 
sweep  him  on  to  fame  and  fortune.  Oppor- 
tune are  all  the  days  when  health  spills  over 
at  the  eye  and   ear  and   laughs  through  the 

227 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

lips.  Men  worn  out  are  like  overshot  wheels — 
the  life  trickles  and  the  buckets  are  filled 
slowly  by  long  rests  and  frequent  vacations. 
Young  men  are  like  undershot  wheels — always, 
by  day  and  night,  the  water  overflows  the 
banks. 

Each  morning  the  young  soul  wakens  to  the 
supreme  luxui-y  of  living.  The  world  is  a 
great  beaker  brimmed  with  wine  of  the  gods. 
The  truth  and  beauty  of  field  and  forest  and 
river  give  a  pleasure  that  is  exquisite  to  a 
keenly  sensitive  and  perfectly  healthy  youth. 
Like  an  ^olian  harp,  the  slightest  breath 
avails  for  wakening  melody  midst  its  strings. 
But  years  multiply  cares.  Age  increases 
heaviness.  Time  destroys  its  own  children. 
The  poet  says:  "  In  youth  we  carry  the  world 
like  Atlas;  in  maturity  we  stoop  and  bend  be- 
neath it;  in  age  it  crushes  us  to  the  ground." 
For  the  overtaxed  and  invalided,  the  dew- 
drops  do  not  sparkle  as  diamonds;  the  wet 
grass  suggests  red  flannels  and  cough  sirups. 
For  the  nervous  the  bird's  song  is  a  meaning- 
less chatter.  For  the  sickly  the  clouds  are 
big  black  water-bottles,  though  time  was  when 
they  were  chariots  for  God's  angels,  curtains 
for  hiding  ministering  spirits  trooping  home- 
ward at  night,  leaving  all  the  air  sweetly  per- 

228 


The  Strategic  Element  in  Opportunity. 

fumed.  It  is  the  body  that  gi'ants  the  soul 
permission  to  be  happy. 

To  the  opportunity  offered  by  health  may  be 
added  the  years  lying  in  front  of  the  young 
heart  like  a  great  estate,  as  yet  unincumbered. 
Powerful  enthusiams,  too,  are  the  inheritance 
of  youth.  Noble  feelings,  fine  aspirations 
then  pass  through  the  mind,  as  in  May  the 
perfumed  winds  from  the  South  pass  over  the 
fields.  These  motives  beat  upon  the  mind  as 
steam  upon  the  iron  piston.  Workmen  exca- 
vating at  Pompeii  threw  up  soil  that  had  been 
covered  for  1,800  years.  Exposed  to  the  sun, 
young  trees  sprang  up.  Without  the  force  of 
light  and  heat  and  dew  and  i-ain  these  seeds 
were  dormant  or  dead.  Thus  each  mind  is  a 
dead  mind  until  the  full  warmth  of  great  im- 
pulses quickens  the  dormant  energies.  The 
hopes,  the  ambitions,  the  aspirations  of  youth 
all  conspire  to  make  this  a  most  strategic 
period.  Then  all  the  forces  of  life  unite  in  a 
great  gulf  stream  for  bearing  the  soul  up  and 
sweeping  it  forward  to  new  climes  and  richer 
shores. 

Strategic  the  hour  of  prosperity.  Men  dis- 
count the  speech  of  poverty,  but  the  rich 
man's  words  weigh  a  ton  each.  It  has  been 
said  that  the  poor  man's  dollar  is  just  as  good 

229 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

as  the  I'ich  man's  only  when  both  are  anony- 
mous, for  the  dollar  with  a  million  behind  it 
will  go  further  than  the  dollar  with  a  thou- 
sand behind  it.  This  is  a  proverb:  "A  bid 
from  Rothschild  electrifies  the  market."  Each 
new  achievement  and  success  builds  higher  the 
tower  of  observation  that  lifts  the  great  man 
into  the  presence  of  the  nation.  All  eyes  are 
upon  the  prospered  individual,  all  ears  are 
alert  to  his  whisper.  Prosperity's  voice  is  the 
voice  of  an  oracle;  all  her  words  are  winged. 
Every  successful  venture  in  the  world  of  com- 
merce or  statecraft  quadruples  influence  over 
the  nation's  youth.  This  princi])le  interprets 
the  curiosity  of  the  boy  in  store  or  bank,  ask- 
ing a  thousand  questions  about  his  successful 
employer.  It  explains  why  the  eager  aspirant 
for  political  influence  searches  all  the  journals 
for  some  word  from  Gladstone  or  Castelar 
or  Bismarck.  A  sentence  from  these  great 
champions  hath  sufficed  for  reversing  the  pol- 
icy of  a  government.  The  memory  of  many 
triumphs  lies  back  of  the  great  leader's  words 
and  lends  them  weight. 

Success  is  an  orator;  it  charms  multi- 
tudes. Full  oft  one  who  is  a  veritable 
genius  for  making  homely  truths  beau- 
tiful has  accomplished  less  for  his  age 
than  some  prosperous   man  whose  few  stum- 

230 


The  Strategic  Element  in  Opportunity. 

bling  words  have  sufficed  for  shaping  national 
policies  and  guiding  his  generation.  All  the 
young  are  drawn  into  the  wake  of  the  success- 
ful. Wealth  fulfills  the  story  of  Orpheus,  whose 
sweet  voice  made  the  very  stones  and  trees 
follow  after  him.  Truly  wealth  is  an  evangelist, 
the  almoner  of  bounty  toward  college  and 
library  and  art  gallery  and  liberty  and  re- 
ligion. But  its  chief  use  is  in  this:  It  enables 
its  possessor  to  repeat  his  industry,  integrity 
and  thrift  in  the  children  of  a  nation.  All 
youthful  hearts  do  well  to  covet  wealth, 
wisdom  and  leverage  power  !  But  man 
should  remember  that  the  chief  value  of  pros- 
perity is  in  its  capitalization  of  personality,  and 
the  rendering  of  others  sensitive  to  example 
and  precept.  Should  man  forget  this,  earth 
will  hear  no  sadder  cry  than  his  when,  clos- 
ing the  life  career,  he  exclaims:  "While  thy 
servant  was  busy  here  and  there  the  oppor- 
tune moment  was  gone.' 

Friendship  yields  these  plastic  moments  and 
unique  opportunities.  For  the  most  part  the 
soul  dwells  in  a  castle  locked  and  barred 
against  outsiders.  No  man  can  keep  open- 
house  for  every  passer-by.  But  friendship  is 
an  open  sesame,  drawing  every  bar  and  bolt. 
How  the  heart  leaps  when  the  friend  crosses 
the  threshold!     His  shadow  always  falls  be- 

231 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

hind  him.  His  coming  is  summei'  in  the  soul; 
his  presence  is  peace.  Friendship  glorifies 
everything  it  touches.  When  on  a  stormy 
night  our  friend  comes  in  he  seems  to  warm 
the  very  fire  upon  the  hearth ;  he  sweetens  the 
sweet  singer's  voice;  lends  new  meaning  to 
the  wise  man's  words;  gives  reminiscence  an 
added  charm;  makes  old  stories  new;  makes 
the  laughter  and  smiles  come  twice  as  often 
and  stay  twice  as  long.  Friendship  lies  upon 
the  heart  like  a  warm  fire  upon  the  hearth. 
By  reason  of  friendship  history  exhibits  every 
great  man  as  leaving  his  school  of  thought 
and  a  group  of  disciples  behind  him.  His 
spirit  lingers  with  men  long  after  his  form  has 
disappeared  from  the  streets,  as  the  sun  lin- 
gers in  the  clouds  after  the  day  is  done,  as  the 
melody  lingers  in  the  ear  long  after  the  song 
is  sung.  Longfellow,  after  a  day  and  a  night 
with  Emerson,  literally  emitted  poems  and 
plays.  He  was  stimulated  by  friendship  as  bees 
by  rose  liquor  and  the  sweet  pea  wine.  Friend- 
ship always  makes  the  heart  plastic.  Then 
the  mental  furrows  are  all  open  and  mellow; 
sympathy  falls  like  dew  and  rain;  then  the 
heart  saith  to  its  friend:  "Here  am  I,  all 
plastic  to  your  touch;  work  upon  me  your 
will;  for  good  or  ill — I  am  thine."  Therefore, 
friendship    imposes    frightful   responsibilities; 

232 


The  Strategic  Element  in  Opportunity. 

in  asking  and  receiving  it  we  assume  charge 
of  another's  destiny.  This  is  the  very  genius 
of  the  teacher's  influence  over  his  pupil,  the 
parent's  over  his  child,  the  general's  over  his 
soldier,  the  patriot's  over  his  people.  Better 
a  thousand  times  never  open  the  furrow  than 
to  leave  it  unfertilized. 

How  strategic  life's  better  hours  !  One  of 
God's  precious  gifts  is  the  luminous  hour  that 
denies  the  lower  animal  mood.  Mind  is  not 
always  at  its  best.  Full  oft  our  thought  is 
sodden  and  dull.  Then  duty  seems  a  maze 
without  a  clew  and  life's  skeins  all  a  tangle. 
The  mind  is  uneasy,  confused  and  troubled. 
Then  men  live  to  the  eye  and  the  ear  and 
physical  comforts;  they  live  for  houses  and 
beautiful  things  in  them;  for  shelves  and  rich 
goods  upon  them;  for  factories  and  large 
profits  by  them.  Responsibility  to  God  seems 
like  the  faint  shadow  of  a  vaguely  remembered 
dream.  The  voice  of  conscience  is  in  the  ear 
like  the  far-off  murmuring  of  the  sea.  The 
soul  is  sordid  and  the  finer  senses  indurated. 
The  angel  of  the  better  nature  is  bondslave  to 
the  worst.  Then  enters  some  element  that 
nurtures  the  nobler  impulse.  Some  misfor- 
tune, earthquake-like,  cleaves  through  the 
hard  crust.  Or  some  gentle  event,  like  the 
coming  of  an  old  friend  or  the  returning  to  the 

^33 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

old  homestead,  stirs  old  memories  and  kindles 
new  thoughts. 

Slowly  the  heart  passes  out  of  the  penumbra. 
The  mind,  too  long  obscured  like  a  sun  eclipsed 
by  clouds,  searches  out  some  rift.  Suddenly 
reason  comes  into  the  clear.  God  rises  like 
an  untroubled  sun  upon  the  soul's  horizon. 
How  crystalline  life  looks  !  The  mind  literally 
exhales  fancies  and  pictures,  and  each  stick 
and  stone  is  as  full  of  suggestions  and  ideas  as 
the  forest  is  full  of  birds.  Old  problems  be- 
come clear  as  noonday.  Difficult  questions  lie 
clearly  revealed  before  the  mind  like  landscapes 
from  which  the  fogs  are  lifted.  Once  the 
mind  crawled  tortoise-like  through  its  work. 
Now  it  soars  like  an  eagle.  The  soul  seems  a 
sweet-spiced  shrub,  and  every  leaf  is  per- 
fumed. If  in  dull,  obscure  hours  the  soul  was 
like  a  wooden  beehive  drifted  o'er  with  snow, 
in  its  vision-hours  the  soul  is  like  a  glass  hive 
out  of  which  the  bees  go  singing  into  sweet 
clover-fields.  In  these  hours  how  unworthy 
the  material  life !  How  insubstantial  the 
things  of  iron,  wood  and  stone  !  Bodily  things 
seem  evanescent,  as  frost  pictures  on  the 
window  on  a  winter's  morn.  Then  honor,  in- 
tegrity, kindness,  generosity  alone  seem  per- 
manent and  worth  one's  while.  How  easy 
then  to  do  right.     All  habits  that  fettered  the 

234 


The  Strategic  Element  in  Opportunity. 

faculties  like  iron  cuffs  are  now  felt  to  be  but 
ice  fetters,  quickly  melting.  Then  the  nobler 
self,  using  no  whip  of  cords,  looks  upon  mean- 
ness and  selfishness,  and  by  a  look  drives  them 
from  the  heart  and  life. 

Then  years  are  fulfilled  in  a  single  hour. 
Then  from  its  judgment-seat  the  soul  reviews 
its  past  career,  searches  out  secret  sins  and 
scorns  them.  How  unworthy  are  vanity  and 
pi'ide  and  selfishness.  In  what  garments  of 
beauty  and  attraction  are  truth  and  purity 
clothed.  The  soul  looks  longingly  unto  the 
heavenly  heights,  as  desert  pilgrims  long  for 
oases  and  springs  of  water.  Unspeakably 
precious  are  these  strategic  hours  of  oppor- 
tunity. God  sends  them;  divineness  is  in 
them;  they  cleanse  and  fertilize  the  soul;  they 
are  like  the  overflowing  Nile.  Men  should 
watch  for  them  and  lay  out  the  life-course  by 
them,  as  captains  ignore  the  clouds  and  head- 
lands and  steer  by  the  stars  for  a  long  voy- 
age and  a  distant  harbor. 


235 


Influence,  and  the  Principle  of  Reac- 
tion IN  Life  and  Character. 


"  So  each  man  gets  out  of  the  world  of  men  the  rebound,  the 
increase  and  development  of  what  he  brings  there.  Three  men 
stand  in  the  same  field  and  look  around  them,  and  then  they  all 
cry  out  together.  One  of  them  exclaims,  'How  rich!'  another 
cries,  *  How  strange!'  another  cries,  *  How  beautiful!'  And  then 
the  three  divide  the  field  between  them,  and  they  build  their 
houses  there  ;  and  in  a  year  you  come  back  and  see  what  answer 
the  same  earth  has  made  to  each  of  her  three  questioners.  They 
have  all  talked  with  the  ground  on  which  they  lived,  and  heard  its 
answers.  They  have  all  held  out  their  several  hands,  and  the 
same  ground  has  put  its  own  gift  into  each  of  them.  What  have 
they  got  to  show  you  ?  One  cries,  '  Come  here  and  see  my  barn;' 
another  cries,  '  Come  here  and  see  my  museum  ;'  the  other  says, 
'Let  me  read  you  my  poem.'  That  is  a  picture  of  the  way  in 
which  a  generation,  or  the  race,  takes  the  great  earth  and  makes  it 
different  things  to  all  its  children.  With  what  measure  we  mete 
to  it,  it  measures  to  us  again.  This  is  the  rebound  of  the  hard 
earth — sensitive  and  soft,  although  we  call  it  hard,  and  feeling 
with  an  instant  keen  discrimination  the  different  touch  of  each 
different  human  nature  which  is  laid  upon  it.  Reaction  is  equal 
to  action." — Phillipi  Brooks. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Influence,  and  the  Principle  of  Reac- 
tion IN  Life  and  Character. 

To  the  mystery  of  life  and  death  must  be 
added  the  mystery  of  growth.      When  Demos- 
thenes   exclaimed:     "Yesterday    I    was    not 
here;  I  shall  not  be  here  to-morrow;  to-day  I 
am  here,"  he  suggested  a  hard  problem.     Hav- 
ing solved  the  enigma,  what  went  before  life, 
and  answered  that  mystery,  what  follows  after 
death,  there  still  remains  this  question:    "How 
can  a  babe  in  twenty  years  take  on  the  pro- 
portions  of  the  great  orator  and  reformer?" 
Rocks   do  not  grow,    nor  diamonds,  nor  dirt, 
but  a  shrunken  bulb  does  become  a  lily,  and  a 
tiny  seed  a  mustai'd  tree.      In  vain  does  the 
scientist  struggle  with  this  problem — how  an 
acorn  can  expand  into  an  oak;  how  in  a  single 
summer  a  grain  of  corn  can  ripen  a  thousand 
grains,   like    that    from    which    the    cornstalk 
sprang. 

Men  are  indeed  familiar  with  the  bursting 
of  buds,  the  cracking  of  eggs  and  the  growth 
of  children;  yet  familiarity  robs  these  facts  of 
no  whit  of  their  mystery.  No  jeweler  ever 
goes  into  the  field  with  a  basket  of  watches  to 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

plant  them  in  rows,  expecting  when  autumn 
hath  come  to  pick  two  or  three  wagon-loads  of 
stem-winders  from  iron  branches;  yet,  were 
this  possible,  it  would  be  no  more  strange 
than  that  in  the  autumn  the  husbandman 
should  stand  under  the  branches  to  fill  his 
basket  with  peaches  or  bunches  of  tigs.  For 
wise  men  it  is  no  more  difficult  to  think  of  a 
growing  engine  than  of  a  growing  oak.  What 
if  to-morrow  an  engineer  should  plant  a  can- 
non ball.  Having  watered  it  well  and  kept 
the  ground  loose  through  hoe  or  spade,  sup- 
pose that  when  a  few  weeks  have  passed  the 
outline  of  a  smokestack  should  push  through 
the  soil,  to  be  followed  a  little  later  by  a 
rudimentary  steam  whistle,  the  outlines  of  a 
boiler,  and,  rising  through  the  sod,  rude  drive- 
wheels,  piston-rods  and  cylinders,  until  after 
six  months  the  great  engine  should  stand 
forth  in  full  completion.  This  phenomenon 
would  be  no  more  wonderful  than  that  which 
actually  goes  on  before  man's  blind  eyes,  when 
a  tiny  seed  enlarges  into  the  big  tree  of  Cali- 
fornia and  constructs  a  vegetable  engine  that 
lifts  thousands  of  hogsheads  of  water  up  to 
the  topmost  boughs  without  any  rattle  of 
chains  or  the  din  of  machinery. 

With  difficulty  man  constructs  that  musical 
instrument  called  a  mouthharp,  but  nature,  in 

240 


The  Principle  of  Reaction  in  Life. 

six  weeks,  out  of  a  little  blue  or  brown  egg 
constructs  a  feathered  music-box  that  auto- 
matically conveys  itself  from  tree  to  tree. 
But  the  mystery  that  has  gone  on  in  that 
tiny  blue  egg  lying  in  the  nest  is  just  as  great 
as  if  some  housewife  had  planted  an  old  spin- 
ning-wheel in  the  full  expectation  of  reaping 
a  Jacquard  loom,  or  had  buried  a  jew's-harp  in 
the  gai'den  expecting  in  the  fall  to  pick  a 
grand  piano.  To  the  mystery  that  is  involved 
in  enlargement  by  growth  must  be  added  the 
mystery  of  intelligence.  It  is  not  an  easy 
thing  for  an  expert  housewife,  using  the  same 
formula,  always  to  achieve  the  same  happy 
results  in  the  white  loaf.  He  who  plants 
a  strawberry  seed  will  find  that  the  tiny  seed 
will  construct  a  plant,  lay  in  the  red  tints  ac- 
cording to  rule  and  mix  the  flavor  of  the  berry 
to  a  nicety  that  is  the  despair  of  the  chef.  In 
the  tropic  forests  there  is  a  flower  with  a  deep 
cup  and  the  pollen  at  the  bottom.  This  pollen 
lies  upon  a  little  platter,  and  underneath  the 
platter  is  that  form  of  trap  known  as  a  figure 
four,  much  loved  by  boys.  When  the  bee, 
creeping  down  into  the  flower,  touches  that 
platter,  it  springs  the  trap  that  throws  the 
fertilizing  pollen  upon  the  legs  of  the  bee,  to 
be  conveyed  to  the  next  flower.  Wise  men  can, 
indeed,  imitate  this  device,  but  a  single  seed 

241 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

will  in  a  few  months  construct  many  scores  of 
these  mechanical  devices.  To-morrow  morn- 
ing the  embryologist  in  his  laboratory  will 
place  an  egg  under  a  glass  cylinder  in  an 
atmosphere  of  98  degrees.  Four  hours  pass 
and  suddenly  the  scientist  perceives  an  atom 
in  the  heart  of  that  egg  give  a  quick  lashing 
movement.  Another  moment  witnesses  two 
quick  throbs.  Growth  has  begun  and  in  four 
months'  time  the  young  eagle  with  firm 
strokes  will  lift  itself  into  the  soft  air.  From 
the  chamber  of  life  and  the  chamber  of  death 
God  hath  never  drawn  the  curtains.  The 
chamber  of  growth  is  another  most  holy  place 
in  which  God  alone  doth  stand. 

Deeply  impressed  by  the  fact  of  growth, 
scientists  have  also  marveled  at  the  principle 
that  controls  the  harvest.  Rocks  enlarge  by 
accretion,  but  from  what  a  rock  is  at  the  be- 
ginning, the  geologists  cannot  tell  what  will 
be  the  shape  of  that  rock  when  all  deposits  are 
finally  made.  As  to  growth  in  seed  and 
shrub,  like  produces  like.  He  who  sows  wheat 
reaps  wheat,  not  tares.  He  who  plants  a 
grape  receives  a  purple  cluster,  not  a  bunch 
of  thorns  or  thistles.  He  who  sows  honor  shall 
reap  confidence.  He  who  sows  frankness  shall 
reap  openness.  No  Peabody  sowing  industry 
and  thrift    reaps  the  harvest  of  indolence  and 

242 


The  Principle  of*  Reaction  in  Life. 

idleness.  Theodore  Parker,  loving  knowledge 
and  for  it  denying  himself  sleep  and  exercise, 
reaped  wisdom,  and  also  wan  and  hollow 
cheeks,  while  the  iron  frame  and  ruddy  cheek 
are  for  the  child  of  the  woods  who  loves  exer- 
cise in  the  open  air.  He  who  aspires  to 
leadership  and  would  have  the  multitude  cheer 
his  name;  he  who  longs  for  the  day  when  his 
appearance  upon  the  sti'eet  shall  mean  an  ova- 
tion from  the  people,  must  make  himself  the 
people's  slave,  defy  all  demagogues,  brave  the 
fury  of  party  strife,  oft  be  execrated  by  poli- 
ticians and  sometimes  be  hated  by  the  multi- 
tude. Having  sown  self-sacrifice  and  love,  he 
shall  reap  fame  and  adulation.  For  nature's 
law  is  universal  and  inexorable — like  produces 
like.  The  sheaf  is  simply  the  seed  enlarged 
and  multiplied.  The  sowing  contains  the 
germ  of  all  the  harvests  to  be  reaped. 

The  new  biography  of  Benedict  Arnold  tells 
us  of  the  despair  of  the  traitor's  final  days, 
the  remorse  that  gnawed  his  heart,  the  agony 
that  filled  his  life.  Yet  no  ai-bitrary  degree 
was  imposed  upon  Arnold.  He  plotted  the 
surrender  of  the  interests  committed  to  him 
as  a  general,  planned  the  stratagem  that 
ended  in  the  capture  and  execution  of  Andre, 
and  received  $30,000  in  gold  for  his  treachery. 
Having   gone  over  to   the  enemy,   he  placed 

243 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

himself  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  English  troops 
and  went  forth  to  destroy  the  towns  and  vil- 
lages of  his  boyhood  and  pillaged  the  homes  of 
his  old  friends.  He  sowed  avarice,  and  of 
avarice  he  reaped  $30,000.  He  sowed  distrust 
in  America;  he  reaped  distrust  from  the  Eng- 
lishmen who  had  bought  his  honor.  He  sowed 
treason;  he  reaped  infamy.  He  sowed  con- 
tempt for  the  colonists,  and,  dying,  he  reaped 
the  contempt  from  his  old  friends,  who  counted 
his  body  carrion.  For  the  harvests  of  the  soul 
represent  not  arbitrary  degrees,  but  the  work- 
ings of  natural  law.  If  Ceres,  the  goddess  of 
harvests,  makes  the  sheaf  to  reap  the  seed, 
conscience,  recalling  man's  career,  ordains  that 
like  produces  like.  What  a  man  soweth  that 
shall  he  also  reap  is  the  law  of  nature  and  of 
God. 

The  heroes  of  the  Old  Testament  are  com- 
mon people  capitalized.  What  is  unique  in 
the  experience  of  these  sons  of  greatness  holds 
true  of  all  of  lesser  rank.  The  career  of  one 
of  these  giants  is  a  pictorial  exhibition  of  this 
principle  of  the  spiritual  harvest.  Young 
Jacob  was  shrewd,  crafty  and  full  of  foresight. 
If  Esau,  his  brother,  was  a  ' '  hail  fellow  well 
met,"  the  child  of  his  impulses,  Jacob  was  a 
diplomat  and  very  wily.  One  day,  when  the 
father,   Isaac,  was   blind  and  old,   Esau  grew 

244 


The  Principle  of  Reaction  in  Life. 

restless,  and  at  last  went  away  with  his  com- 
panions, foi'  he  deai'ly  loved  to  hunt.  In  that 
hour  ambition  tempted  Jacob  and  avarice  led 
him  away.  Advantaging  himself  of  his  broth- 
er's absence,  Jacob  used  the  skin  of  a  kid  to 
make  his  hand's  hairy,  like  the  hands  of  Esau, 
and,  simulating  the  brother's  voice,  he  ex- 
torted from  his  dying  father  those  tokens  that, 
according  to  the  Eastern  custom,  made  him 
the  successor  to  his  father's  title,  wealth  and 
power.  Full  twoscore  years  passed  swiftly 
by  and  the  deceit  seems  to  have  brought  in 
large  money  returns  to  crafty  Jacob. 

But  silently  nature  was  working  out  the 
harvest  of  retribution,  through  that  law  of 
heredity  that  makes  sons  repeat  the  qualities  of 
their  father.  When  Jacob  was  now  advanced  in 
years  his  ten  sons  began  to  develop  craftiness, 
and  soon  they  plowed  great  furrows  of  care  in 
the  father's  face.  In  those  days  of  care  his 
young  son  Joseph  stole  into  Jacob's  heart  like 
a  sweet  sunbeam,  and,  with  his  open,  loving 
ways,  filled  his  father's  heart  with  gladness. 
When  the  elder  brothers  knew  Jacob  had  given 
Joseph  a  coat  of  many  colors  they  remembered 
the  craft  of  their  father  in  his  early  career. 
One  evening,  when  the  herds  and  flocks  were 
scattered  widely  over  the  hills,  Simeon  sent 
out  messengers   and    called    his    brothers    to- 

245 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

srether  for  a  conference.    In  that  hour  he  said: 
'^Wist  ye  not  how  our  father,  being  a  younger 
son,  supplanted  his  elder  brother,  Esau?    And 
behold  his  craft  will   now  make  his  younger 
child,  Joseph,  to  supplant  his  elder  brothers  ! 
Do  ye  not  remember  how  our   father,  Jacob, 
took  a  kid  and  made  his  hands  like  unto  the 
hands  of  Esau?   Let  us  now  take  a  kid  and 
make  its  blood  represent  the  blood  and  death 
of   Joseph.     What   Jacob   did  for  his   father, 
Isaac,  let  his  sons  do  to  their  father,  Jacob." 
Thus,    with    subtle    irony,  nature    made    the 
man's  sins  to  come  back  to  him.     A  boy,  Jacob 
deceived  his  father;  now,  grown  gray  and  old, 
his  boys  brought  their  father  an  armful  of  de- 
ceits.    In  that  hour  when  Reuben  and  Simeon 
held  up  the  coat  of  many  colors,  all  red  with 
blood,  great  nature  might  have  whispered  to 
Jacob:      "It  is  the  blood  of  the  kid  that  you 
slew  for  deceiving  your   father  returning  to 
enable  your  sons  to  deceive  you."     For,  hav- 
ing sowed  deceit,   deceit  also  and  stratagem 
Jacob  reaped.     Himself  a  son,  he  thrust  a  dart 
into  his  father's  heart.      Become  a  father,  his 
ten   sons   became   archers,  skilled   with  darts 
that  filled  their  father's   heart    with   agony. 
For   nature    loves   justice;    her  rule   is    law; 
sometimes  her  rod  is  iron. 

The  principle  that  every  deed  is  a  seed  that 

246 


The  Principle  of  Reaction  in  Life. 

contains  the  germ  of  its  own  reward  or  pun- 
ishment has  received  full  interpretation  by  the 
poets    and    di-amatists.       In    his     "Paradise 
Lost,"  Milton  has  made  a  detailed  study  of  the 
principles  of  the  spiritual  harvests.     The  poet 
represents  Satan  as  an  angel,    fallen   indeed, 
and  sadly   battered   by  his   fall,    yet   still  an 
ai-changel   glorious  for  strength  and  beauty. 
Having  visited  Paradise  and  accomplished  the 
destruction    of    Eve's    innocence   and   Adam's 
happiness,  Satan  returns  home,  passing  over 
a  bridge  of  more  prodigious  length  than  now 
arches  the  gulf  between  earth  and  hell.    When 
the  prince  arrived  at  Pandemonium,  the  capital 
of  Lucifer's  realm,  he  found  that  the  leaders 
of  the  fallen  host  had  arranged  a  reception  in 
the  great  banquet-hall  of  the  palace.     In  the 
presence  of  the  applauding  throng,  the  prince 
told  the  story  of   how  he  had   succeeded   in 
opening  the  earth  as  a  place  to  which  these 
exiled  angels  might  retreat  from  the  pi-ison  in 
which   they   had  been  so  long  confined,    and 
pointed   to    the    great   bridge    spanning    the 
abyss  'twixt  earth  and  hell.     When  the  loud 
cheerings    and   rejoicings    over  this  fact  had 
ceased,  Satan  told  by  what  stratagem  he  had 
succeeded  in  inducing  man  to  break  friendship 
with  God.     It  was  not  by  disguising  himself 
as  an  angel    of   light.     But,    affirmed  Satan, 

247 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

man  cared  so  little  for  the  laws  of  God  that, 
although  disguised  as  a  serpent,  he  induced 
man  to  sin. 

"Then  awhile  Satan  stood,  expecting  their  universal 
shout  and  high  applause 

To  fill  his  ear,  when  contrary  he  hears 
On  all  sides  from  innumerable  tongues 

A  dismal  universal  hiss,  the  sound 
Of  public  scorn.     He  wondered,  but  not  long 

Had  leisure.     Wondering  at  himself  no  more, 
His  visage  drawn,  he  felt;  too  sharp  and  spare 

His  arms  clung  to  his  ribs,  his  legs  entwining 
Each  the  other,  till  supplanted  down  he  fell, 

A  monstrous  serpent  on  his  belly  prone, 
Reluctant,  but  in  vain.     A  greater  power 

Now  ruled  him,  punished  in  the  shape  he  sinned^ 
According  to  his  doom." 

Also  when  Satan  attempted  to  speak,  Milton 
says,  only  a  hiss  went  forth  "from  forked 
tongue  to  forked  tongue."  When  many  days 
had  passed  by  and  their  hunger  was  very  sore 
because  these  fallen  angels  had  seduced  man 
by  an  apple,  it  came  about  that  when,  fierce 
with  hunger,  they  seized  the  fruit  ripe  upon 
the  branches,  the  apples  were  found  to  be 
filled  with  soot  and  ashes.  By  these  striking 
suggestions  Milton  gives  us  his  idea  how 
angels  and  men  reap  what  they  sow.  Should 
the  literary  critic  seek  an  appropriate  heading 
for  the  tenth  book  of  "Paradise  Lost,"  he 
could  hardly  find  one  more  appropriate   than 

248 


The  Principle  of  Reaction  in  Life. 

this:     "What    Man    Soweth,    That   Shall  He 
Also  Reap." 

This  law  of  the  spiritual  harvest  that  visits 
retribution  upon  unrighteousness  or  visits  re- 
ward upon  integrity  seems  to  have  cast  a  spell 
of  fascination  upon  all  great  writers.  Even 
those  who  have  written  upon  liberty,  law, 
patriotism,  or  love  have  not  been  content  to 
end  their  task  until  they  have,  through  song 
or  story,  illustrated  this  law  of  the  soul's 
seedtime  and  harvest.  The  ancient  poet  who 
wrote  at  a  time  near  to  the  dawn  of  history 
makes  a  strong  man  go  forth  to  seize  his 
neighbor's  flocks  and  herds,  but  returning  the 
prince  found  that  in  his  absence  enemies  had 
looted  his  palace  and  carried  off  not  only  his 
treasure,  but  his  wife  and  children.  In  ending 
the  tale  the  writer  adds  the  reflection  that 
"God  is  just  !" 

Later  on  the  Grecian  threw  this  moral  prin- 
ciple into  a  tale  for  children,  a  story  that  still 
lives  under  the  title  "Baucis  and  Philemon." 
One  day  two  travelers  entered  a  village,  but 
as  they  drew  near,  each  housewife  slammed 
.  her  door,  while  rude  boys  threw  clods  at  the 
wayfarers  and  let  loose  their  dogs,  who 
snapped  and  snarled  after  the  travelers.  Pass- 
ing quite  beyond  the  village  the  pilgrims  came 
to  a  humble  cottage.     As  they  approached  his 

249 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

door  Philemon  came  forth  to  offer  refuge,  and 
apologized  for  the  rudeness  of  his  neighbors. 
The  old  man  prepared  for  them  seats  in  the 
grateful  shade  and  hurried  to  bring  them  fresh 
water  from  the  cool  spring.  Baucis  also  has- 
tened to  bring  the  loaf,  with  her  one  small 
honeycomb  and  her  pitcher  of  milk.  When 
the  glasses  were  filled  twice  and  thrice  and 
still  the  rich  milk  failed  not,  the  old  housewife 
marveled,  until  she  found  that  in  the  bottom 
of  the  pitcher  there  was  a  fountain  from  which 
the  rich  milk  gushed  so  long  as  it  was  needed. 
Nor  did  the  honeycomb  fail,  nor  did  the  sharp 
knife  make  the  wheaten  loaf  to  be  less.  Hav- 
ing told  us  that  the  morning  brought  disaster 
to  the  inhospitable  villagers,  but  brought 
assurance  from  these  angels  who  had  been 
entertained  unawares  that  Baucis  and  Phile- 
mon should  never  moi'e  want  for  earthly  goods, 
the  writer  of  the  olden  times  sets  forth  for  us 
the  principle  that  good  man  and  bad  alike 
reap  what  they  sow,  since  each  deed  contains 
a  harvest  like  unto  itself.  Indeed,  literature 
and  life  teem  with  exhibitions  of  this  principle. 
Haman,  the  rich  ruler,  builds  a  gallows  for 
poor  Mordecai,  whom  he  hates,  and  later  on 
Haman  himself  is  hanged  upon  his  own  scaffold. 
David  sets  Uriah  in  the  front  of  the  battle  and 
robs   him  of  his    wife,  and  when  a  few  years 

250 


The  Principle  of  Reaction  in  Life. 

have  passed,  in  turn  David  is  robbed  of  his 
wife,  his  palace  also,  and  his  city. 

Walter  Scott  believes  in  moral  retribution. 
He    tells    us    of   a  youth  who  deftly  split  an 
arrow  at  the  point  where  it  fitted   the  bow- 
string, that  when  his  brother,  whom  he  hated, 
should  bend   his  bow   the    arrow  might  split 
and,  rebounding,  pass  through  his  eye.     Now 
it  happened  that  the  brother  returned   from 
the   hunt    without   using   his    weapon.     That 
night,  alarmed   at  a  commotion  without,   the 
youth  seized  his  bow,  and,  chancing  to  strike 
upon  that  very  arrow,   was   himself  slain   by 
the  stratagem  that  he  had  wickedly  planned 
for  his  brother.     George  Eliot,  too,  has  dedi- 
cated her  greatest  volume  to  the  study  of  this 
principle.     The  orphan  child,  Tito,  is  received 
into  the  arms  of  an  adopted  father,  who  lav- 
ishes upon  him  all  his  wealth.     But  when  the 
youth  was  grown  to  full  strength  and  beauty, 
one  night  Tito  left  his  adopted  father  in  slavery 
and  fled  with  his  gold  and  gems  into  a  foreign 
land.     Years  passed  by  and,  with  his  stolen 
wealth,    Tito    bought    wife,    palace,    position, 
fame.     He  had  sown  falsehood  and  cruelty,  and 
nothing  seemed  so  unlikely  as  that  he  would 
reap  a  similar  harvest.     But  one  day  the  peo- 
ple discovei-ed  his  falsehood  and  attacked  Tito. 
A  mob  pursued  him  through  the  streets,  and, 

251 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

knowing  his  strength  as  a  swimmer,  the  youth 
cast  himself  into  the  River  Arno.  When  Tito 
had  swum  far  down  the  river  to  the  other  side, 
and,  in  his  exhaustion,  would  go  ashore,  he 
looked  up,  and,  lo!  he  discerned  the  gray- 
haired  father  whom  he  had  injured  trotting 
along  the  shore  side  by  side  with  the  swimmer. 
In  the  old  man's  eyes  blazed  bitter  hatred,  in 
his  hand  flashed  a  sharp  knife.  "What  the 
youth  had  sown  years  before  now  at  last  he 
was  to  reap.  When  increasing  weakness  com- 
pelled him  to  approach  the  shore  he  looked 
beseechingly  to  his  father  for  mercy,  but  found 
only  justice.  With  a  wild  and  bitter  cry  Tito 
reaped  his  harvest.  Soon  the  mud  of  that 
river  filled  the  eyes  and  ears  of  him  who  years 
before  had  received  defilement  into  his  heart. 
What  seed  he  had  sown,  that  Nature  gave  him 
as  a  harvest — good  measure,  heaped  up,  and 
shaken  together. 

History  permits  no  man  to  escape  the  reflec- 
tion that  if,  for  the  time  being,  individuals 
have  escaped  this  moral  law,  nations  have  felt 
its  full  force.  Nature  does,  indeed,  walk 
through  the  fields  with  footsteps  so  gentle  as 
to  disturb  no  drop  of  dew  hanging  upon  the 
blade  of  grass.  Nature  also  hath  her  sterner 
aspect,  and  for  the  sons  of  iniquity  her  foot- 
steps are  earthquakes,  her  strokes  are  strokes 

252 


The  Principle  of  Reaction  in  Life. 

of    war   and   of  pestilence.     When    Sophocles 
worked  out  the  law  of  moral   retribution  for 
King  CEdipus  and  Antigone,  his  daughter,  the 
poet  might  well  have  gone  on   to  note  that  if 
the  Gi-ecian  army  had  sacked  the  Trojan  cities 
the  time  would  come  when    the  Roman    fleet 
would  sack  her  cities  and  make  her  sons  to  toil 
as   captives.      Later    on,    if    the    Roman   con- 
querors swept  the  East  for  corn  and  wheat, 
looted  stores  and  shops,    pillaged  palaces  for 
treasure  for  triumphal   processions,    the  time 
came  when  Nature  and  God  decreed  that  the 
vast  wealth  piled    up    in    the  Roman   capital 
should  excite  the  cupidity  of  the  Goths,  until 
at  last  the  streets  of   that   great   city    were 
swept    with      flame    and     store-houses    were 
pillaged  by  marauders.      In  reviewing  the  his- 
tory of  Venice  Ruskin  was  so  impressed  with 
this   principle  of  the   moral    harvest    that  he 
affirms  that  the  history  of  palace  and  cathedi-al, 
of  fleets  and  navies,  is  simply  the  story,  writ- 
ten by  a  pen  dipped  in  fire  and  blood,  of  how  the 
children  reaped  what  the  fathers  had  sown. 

For  many  months  past  the  statesmen  of 
England  have  been  sending  forth  discussions 
reviewing  the  career  of  their  country.  In  the 
light  of  the  Eastern  problem  one  of  these 
authors  reflects  that  whenever  England  has 
sown    injustice    to  a    weaker   nation  she   has 

^S2> 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

reaped  injustice  and  retribution  for  herself. 
He  notes  that  in  the  last  century  the  gov- 
ernors of  England — for  example,  Lord  Hast- 
ings— went  through  the  land  robbing  rajahs, 
despoiling  the  people  by  false  weights  and 
measures,  until  they  had  turned  the  whole 
country  into  one  vast  desert.  The  hour  came 
when  before  the  House  of  Commons  Burke  im- 
peached Hastings  for  high  crimes  and  mis- 
demeanors, as  the  enemy  of  India  and  England 
and  all  men.  But  England  was  content  to 
impose  a  trifling  fine  upon  her  wicked  official. 
How  could  she  give  up  the  treasure  she  had 
filched  for  herself?  Years  passed  and  an  in- 
jured people  brooded  upon  its  wrongs,  and  the 
time  came  when  what  England  had  sown  in 
tears  she  reaped  in  blood.  One  day  the  Indian 
soldiers  mutincd.  The  next  day  the  wells 
were  filled  with  the  bodies  of  English  officers, 
their  wives  and  children;  then  merchants  and 
missionaries  and  travelers  were  slaughtered. 
For  weeks  the  strife  went  on.  If  once  the 
English  soldier  had  pillaged  the  Indian  vil- 
lages, now,  in  turn,  the  English  quarters 
were  pillaged.  "Blind  of  eye  and  hard 
of  heart,"  said  the  sage  statesman.  "  Ret- 
ribution hath  been  visited  upon  us,"  said 
the  great  leader.  "Our  jealousy  and  greed 
hath    ended   with    that    sword   being   sharp- 

254 


The  Principle  of  Reaction  In  Life. 

ened  against  ourselves."  The  note  of  convic- 
tion is  in  the  voice  of  this  statesman,  but  what 
saith  he  save  this:  "What  a  man  soweth,  that 
also  shall  he  reap  !" 

All  young  hearts  may  well  remember  that  it 
is  safe  to  do  right,  but  dangerous  to  sow 
wi'ong  !  No  matter  how  smooth,  how  soft  and 
sweet,  seem  the  paths  of  sin,  know  that  be- 
neath every  flower  there  lurks  a  spider,  be- 
neath every  silken  couch  of  indulgence  there 
broods  a  nest  of  serpents,  and  the  scene  that 
begins  with  flowers  shall  end  midst  thorns  and 
thickets.  For  the  moment,  indeed,  the  judge 
may  seem  unobservant  and  the  watchman  may 
seem  asleep;  but  he  who  yields  to  any  deflec- 
tion from  honor  shall  find  at  last  that  God 
never  slumbers,  that  his  laws  never  sleep.  Go 
east  or  go  west.  Nature  is  upon  the  track  of 
the  wrong-doer.  Could  the  sage  of  old  sit 
down  to  converse  with  each  youth  who  to-day 
walks  on  the  street,  perchance  he  would  find 
many  who,  through  excess,  are  draining  away 
the  rich  forces  of  nerve  and  bi'ain  and  blood. 

Daily  they  deny  reason  its  book,  taste  its 
music,  love  its  noble  companionship.  At  last, 
when  the  harp  of  the  physical  senses  begins  to 
give  way,  and  they  fall  back  upon  the  mental 
faculties  for  pleasure,  then  these  faculties  that 
have   been  starved   shall,  in   turn,  make  men 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

suffei*.  In  that  hour  reason  or  memory  shall 
say:  "Because  I  called  and  ye  refused;  be- 
cause I  stretched  out  my  hand  and  no  man  re- 
garded, therefore  I  will  laugh  at  your  calam- 
ity. I  will  mock  at  your  desolation  when  your 
fear  comelh  as  destruction  and  your  desolation 
as  whirlwind."  In  Daniel  Webster's  woi'ds  of 
disappointed  ambition,  "I  still  live,"  we  see 
that  a  statesman  sows  what  he  reaps.  In 
Goethe's  fearful  cry  for  "more  light"  we  see 
that  the  poet  who  sows  darkness  shall  reap 
darkness.  In  Lord  Byron's  piteous  "I  must 
sleep  now  "  we  see  that  he  who  sows  morbid- 
ness and  passion  reaps  feverishness  and  shame. 
The  law  is  inexorable.  He  who  sows  foul 
thoughts  shall  I'eap  the  foul  countenance  of  a 
fiend.  He  who  sows  pure  thoughts  shall  reap 
the  sweetness  and  nobility  of  the  face  of  Fra 
Angelico.  He  who  sows  reflection  shall  reap 
wisdom.  He  who  sows  sympathy  shall  reap 
love.  The  good  Samaritan  who  sows  tender- 
ness to  the  man  wounded  by  the  wayside  shall 
reap  tenderness  when  angels  stoop  to  bind  up 
his  broken  heart. 


256 


The   Love  that  Perfects  Life. 


"Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  lavf.^ '-—Romans  xiii,  lo. 

"Men  may  die  without  any  opinions,  and  yet  be  carried  into 
Abraham's  bosom  ;  but  if  we  be  without  love,  what  will  knowl- 
edge avail  ?  I  will  not  quarrel  with  you  about  opinions.  Only 
see  that  your  heart  be  right  with  God.  I  am  sick  of  opinions. 
Give  me  good  and  substantial  religion,  a  humble,  gentle  love  of 
God  and  man." — jfohn  Wesley. 

•Therefore,  come  what  may,  hold  fast  to  love.  Though 
men  should  rend  your  heart,  let  them  not  embitter  or  harden  it. 
We  win  by  tenderness,  we  conquer  by  forgiveness.  O,  strive  to 
enter  into  something  of  that  large  celestial  charity  which  is  meek, 
enduring,  unretaliating,  and  which  even  the  overbearing  world 
cannot  withstand  forever  !  Learn  the  new  commandment  of  the 
Son  of  God.  Not  to  love  merely,  but  to  love  as  He  lo-ved.  Go 
forth  in  this  Spirit  to  your  life  duties  ;  go  forth,  children  of  the 
Cross,  to  carry  everything  before  you,  and  win  victories  for  God  by 
the  conquering  power  of  a  love  like  his." — Frederick  W.  Rob- 
ertson. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Love  that  Perfects  Life. 

The  purpose  of  Christ's  mission  to  earth 
was  the  development  of  ideal  manhood.  The 
instruments  he  fashioned  and  the  agents  he 
ordained  all  wrought  unceasingly  toward  a 
manhood  that  was  ample  in  faculty,  fertile  in 
resource  and  ripe  in  those  qualities  that  make 
for  maturity  of  character.  He  sought  to  teach 
men  how  to  carry  their  faculties  through  all 
the  strife,  collisions  and  rivalries  of  life,  with- 
out damaging  men  or  being  damaged  by  them. 

Always  to  the  children  of  good  fortune  right 
living  has  seemed  easy,  for  these  live  midst 
sheltered  conditions  and  exhibit  goodness  as 
naturally  as  the  sheltered  southern  nooks  have 
grass  and  flowers  when  all  the  northern  hillsides 
are  brown  with  death  or  white  with  snow. 
But  Christ  came  teaching  the  children  of 
weakness  and  misfortune  how  to  bear  up  midst 
adversity,  how  to  singsongs  at  midnight  and 
how,  through  defeat,  to  march  to  final  victory. 
So  beautiful  was  the  manhood  he  unveiled  be- 
fore men  that,  beholding  it,  men  low  and  men 
high,  the  publican  and  prodigal,  the  centurion 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

and  ruler  also,  quivered  with  hope,  as  the  harp 
quivei's  under  the  touch  of  the  harper. 

For  his  ideal  includes  every  quality  that 
kindles  admiration  and  delight;  all  gentleness, 
all  goodness,  all  simplicity,  the  refinement  of 
the  scholar,  the  insight  of  the  seer,  the  cour- 
age that  makes  the  youth  a  hero.  In  luminous 
hours  men  behold  visions  of  ideal  perfection 
hanging  like  stars  in  a  midnight  sky.  Unfor- 
tunately for  many,  these  visions  burst  like 
bubbles  and  soon  pass  away.  Artists  and 
sculptors  look  forward  to  an  hour  when,  by  a 
touch  here  and  a  touch  there,  the  statue  shall 
be  perfected  and  the  portrait  completed;  so 
Christ  pointed  forward  to  an  hour  when,  hav- 
ing been  wrought  upon  by  darkness  and  by 
light,  by  defeat  and  by  victory,  by  sorrow  and 
by  joy,  at  last  wisdom  shall  be  made  perfect, 
judgment  know  no  ei'ror,  love  have  full  dis- 
closure and  the  soul  enter  into  unhindered 
perfection. 

Great  are  the  achievements  of  the  chisel 
upon  the  block  of  marble,  marvelous  the  skill 
with  which  a  master  turns  a  dead  canvas  into 
lustrous  life  and  beauty.  Matchless  the  power 
that  turns  a  clod  into  a  rosy  apple,  a  seed  into 
a  sheaf  of  wheat,  a  babe  into  a  sage;  yet 
neither  nature  nor  art  knows  any  transforma- 

260 


The  Love  that  Perfects  Life. 

tion  like  unto   that  wonder  of  time  when,  by 

I — 

slow  processes,  ^od  develops  man  out  of  rude 
and  low  conditions  of  life  unto  those  high  and 
spiritual  moods  when  selfishness  gives  place 
to  self-sacrifice,  coarseness  to  sweetness,  hard- 
ness to  gentleness  and  love,  and  perfection 
dwells  in  man  as  ripeness^dwells  in  fruit,  as 
maturity  dwells  in  harvests. ; 

The  mainspring  of   all   progress,  individual 
and  social,  is  the  desire  to  fulfill  in  character 
all  one  has  planned  in  thought.     Man's  life  is 
one  long  pursuit  of   the  visions  of  possible  ex- 
cellence   which    disquiet,    rebuke    and    tempt 
him    upward.       "As    to   other    points,"    said 
John  Milton,  "  what  God  may  have  determined 
for  me  I  know   not,  but  this  I  know — that  if 
he    ever    instilled    an    intense   love  of    moral 
beauty  into  the  breast  of  any  man,  he  has  in- 
stilled it  into  mine.     Ceres,  in  the  fable,  pur- 
sued  not  her  daughter  with  a  greater  keen- 
ness of  inquiry  than  T,  day  and  night,  the  idea 
of  perfection."     Haunted   by  his  dream  of  ex- 
cellence, the  poet  likened  himself  to  one  born 
beside  the  thi'one  and  reared  in  purple,  yet  by 
some  mischance  left  to  gypsies,  midst  poverty 
and  neglect,  while  thoughts  of   the  glory  he 
has   known  and   that  imperial  palace  whence 
he  came,  are  never  out  of  mind.     In  picturing 

261 


y 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

forth  these  conceptions  of  sweetness  and  light, 
philosophers  have  found  it  hard  to  summarize 
the  qualities  that  make  up  ideal  manhood. 

Conceding  that  the  Christian  is  the  perfect 
gentleman,  who  does  for  his  fellows  what  an 
easy  chair  does  for  a  tired  man,  what  a  winter's 
fire  is  to  a  lost  traveler,  we  may  also  affirm 
that  Newman's  definition  is  inadequate  and 
fragmentary.  As  the  ideal  portraits  of  Christ, 
from  Perugino  to  Hoffman,  divide  the  kingdom 
of  beauty — and  must  be  united  in  one  new 
conception  in  order  to  approach  the  perfect 
face — so  the  poets  and  the  philosophers,  with 
their  diverse  conceptions  of  ideal  manhood, 
divide  the  kingdom  of  character.  "The  true 
man  cannot  be  a  fragmentary  man,"  said  Plato. 
Is  he  not  one-sided  who  masters  the  conven- 
tional refinement  and  the  stock  proprieties, 
yet  indulges  in  drunkenness  and  gluttony? 
"Pleasure  must  not  be  his  sole  aim,"  said  the 
accomplished  Chesterfield.  "I  have  enjoyed 
all  the  pleasures  of  the  world,  and  conse- 
quently know  their  futility,  and  do  not  regret 
their  loss.  Those  who  have  no  experience  are 
dazzled  with  there  glare,  but  I  have  been  be- 
hind the  scenes  and  have  seen  all  the  coarse 
pulleys,  which  exhibit  and  move  all  the  gaudy 
machines  that  excite  the  admiration  of  the 
ignorant  audience.  " 

262 


The  Love  that  Perfects  Life. 

Nor  is  scholarship  enough.  From  Solomon 
to  Burke,  the  wisest  men  have  been  the  sad- 
dest of  men.  The  Scottish  physician  who 
ordered  his  secretary  to  select  from  his  library 
all  the  books  upon  medicine  and  surgery  that 
were  printed  prior  to  1880  and  sell  them,  tells 
us  how  futile  is  the  pursuit  of  wisdom  and 
how  rapidly  the  systems  of  to-day  become  the 
cast-off  garments  of  to-morrow.  Nor  must 
the  perfect  man  represent  power  and  wealth 
alone,  for  "the  wealth  of  Cx-oesus  cannot  bring 
sleep  to  the  sick  man  tossing  upon  his  silken 
couch,  and  all  the  Alexanders  and  Napoleons 
have  shed  bitter  tears,  conquering  or  con- 
quered." He  who  is  merchant  or  scholar  or 
ruler,  and  only  that,  climbs  his  pillar  like 
Simeon  Stylites. 

All  such  know  not  that  the  world  itself  is  a 
pillar  all  too  small  for  the  soul  to  stand  upon. 
This  life-chase  after  bubbles,  this  fighting  for 
trifles,  this  pursuit  of  false  grails,  reminds  us 
of  the  story  of  that  Grecian  boy  lured  to  his 
death  by  the  enchantress.  Going  into  the 
palace  garden  to  pluck  a  rose,  the  youth  be- 
held the  form  of  a  young  girl  standing  in  the 
edge  of  the  glimmering  woods.  "With  soft 
words  and  sweet,  she  called  him.  Forgetting 
his  dear  ones  in  the  palace,  the  youth  ran 
after  his  enchantress.     Along  a  pathway  of 

263 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

flowers  she  danced  before  him,  sometimes 
sweeping  the  strings  of  her  harp,  sometimes 
singing,  and  shaking  her  curls  at  his  haste, 
ever  shooting  arrows  from  her  eyes,  yet  ever 
just  eluding  his  embrace.  On  and  on  she  led 
him  into  the  bog,  that  covered  his  garments 
with  mud,  through  the  thorns  and  brambles 
that  tore  his  white  skin,  over  rocks  steep  and 
sharp.  Ever  and  anon  the  youth  stopped  to 
pluck  the  thorns  from  his  hands  and  bind  up 
his  bleeding  feet;  then,  gathering  his  torn 
purple  about  him,  he  plunged  on,  in  the  hope 
of  drinking  at  last  the  sweet  cup  of  her  sor- 
cery. When,  at  the  end  of  the  day,  the  desire 
of  his  heart  was  given  him,  the  illusion  fell 
away,  for  the  youth  embraced  not  a  beautiful 
maiden,  but  an  old  hag,  who  had  led  him  into 
the  desert  to  a  hut  whose  stones  were  dark- 
ness and  whose  walls  were  confusion. 

As  the  term  genius  includes  all  those  forms 
of  culture  termed  poetry,  music,  eloquence, 
leadership,  so  love  is  a  term  that  includes  all 
those  shapes  of  human  welfare  known  as  edu- 
cation, refinement,  liberty,  happiness.  Prop- 
erly defined,  love  is  that  exalted  state  of  mind 
and  heart  when  reason  is  luminous,  when 
judgment  and  imagination  glow  under  its  in- 
fluence just  as  the  electric  bulb  glows  under 
the  living  current.      There  are  three  possible 

264 


The  Love  that  Perfects  Life. 

states  and  moods  under  which  the  mind  may- 
fulfill  its  functions.  There  is  a  dull  and  qui- 
escent condition  when  reason  and  judgment 
act,  but  act  without  fervor.  Power  is  there, 
but  it  is  latent,  just  as  heat  is  in  the  un- 
kindled  wood  lying  on  the  grate,  but  the  heat 
is  hidden. 

Then  there  is  a  higher  mood  of  the  mind, 
when,  under  the  influence  of  conversation  or 
reading,  the  mind  emits  jets  and  flashes  of 
thought,  through  witticism  or  story;  but  this 
creative  mood  is  intermittent  and  spasmodic. 
Last  of  all  is  that  exalted  mood  when  the 
mind  glows  and  throbs,  when  reason  emits 
thoughts,  as  stars  blaze  light;  when  the  nim- 
bus that  overarches  the  brows  of  saints  in 
ancient  pictures  literally  represents  the  efful- 
gence of  the  mind.  Work  done  in  the  lower 
moods  is  called  mediocre;  work  done  by  the 
mind  in  the  second  stage  is  associated  with 
talent,  but  when,  through  birth  or  ancestry, 
the  mind  works  ever  in  regnant  and  supernal 
moods,  it  is  called  genius.  Affirming  that  all 
minds  rise  into  this  higher  mood  at  intervals, 
we  may  also  affirm  that  all  the  best  work 
in  literature  or  art  or  commerce  has  been 
wroufrht  during  these  exalted  states  when 
love  for  the  work  in  hand  has  rendered  the 
mind  luminous  and  crystalline. 

265 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

It  was  love  of  nature  that  lent  Wordsworth 
his  power  to  divine  nature's  secret.  When  the 
poet  approached  Chamouni  and  the  mountains 
that  gird  it  round  he  tells  us  he  was  conscious 
of  a  shivering  from  head  to  foot,  with  mingled 
awe  and  fear;  his  mind  glowed  with  an  inde- 
scribable pleasure;  his  body  thrilled  as  if  in 
the  pi'esence  of  a  disembodied  spirit;  his  heart 
approached  nature  with  an  intensity  of  joy 
comparable  only  to  that  joy  which  Dante  felt 
when  approaching  Beatrice.  But  when  the 
cares  of  this  world  gained  upon  him  and  the 
love  of  nature  faded  gradually  away  in  the 
manner  described  by  him  in  his  "Imitations 
of  Immortality,"  then  also  his  power  to  de- 
scribe nature  faded  away.  For  only  when  the 
heart  loves  can  intellect  do  great  work. 

His  biographer  tells  us  that  when  Angelo 
grew  old  and  blind  he  was  accustomed  to  ask 
his  servant  to  lead  him  to  the  torso  of  Phidias. 
Passing  his  hands  slowly  over  the  broken 
marble,  the  sculptor  entered  into  the  thought 
of  the  great  Grecian,  and  with  love  for  his  art 
glowing  in  his  face  and  thrilling  in  his  voice, 
he  mused  aloud  upon  the  genius  of  Phidias. 
Love  of  his  art  made  all  his  days  bright 
and  all  his  moons  honeymoons.  When  Wyatt 
Eaton,  the  artist,  was  in  Millet's  home  he 
noticed  that  when  the  wife  called  the  artist 

266 


The  Love  that  Perfects  Life. 

from  his  task  to  his  noonday  meal,  the  artist's 
whole  being  had   so  gathered  itself  into  the 
eye  that  there  was  no  life  left  with  which  to 
hear.    Love  lent  genius  skill.     No  other  senti- 
ment is  so  universal  or  so  powerful  in  its  influ- 
ence as  love  that  energizes  the  mind  and  heart. 
Love  lent  swiftness  to  the  feet  of  Sir  Galahad; 
lent  his  heart  courage;  lent  his  sword  victory. 
Entering  the  palace,  love,  said  Cicero,  "makes 
gold  shine."     Love  for  the  birds  lent  fame  to 
Audubon;    just  as  love  for  the  bees  lent  for- 
tune to  Huber.     Love  of  knowledge  hived  all 
the  wisdom  in   the  libraries;  love  of   beauty 
adorned  all  the  galleries;   love  of  service  or- 
ganized  all    the    philanthropies.     To-morrow, 
at  the  behest  of  love,  and  in  the  interests  of 
dear  ones  at  home,  all  the  wheels  will  begin  to 
revolve ;  all  the  trains  go  out  and  all  the  ships 
come  in.     When  a  man  of  real  force  and  worth 
passes  upward  into  that  high  state  of  purity 
and  sweet  reasonableness   called  love,  he  be- 
comes almost  sacred  and  exhales  an  ineffable 
and   mysterious    atmosphere.  [_Grreat    is    the 
power    of    trade;    wonderful    the    influence  of 
fortune   and    force;    marvelous    the    hundred 
instrumentalities  and  institutions  of  society, 
but  above  all  of  them  is  man,  whose  love  can 
indeed  "make  riches  splendid,"  whose  wisdom 
love  can  make  mellow;   whose  strength  love 

267 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

can  make  gentle;  whose  defeats  love  can  turn 
into  victories.     In  that  hour  one  hundi-ed  men 

dwell  in  one  man.  \ 

• 

Love  also  perfects  morality  and  fulfills  all 
ethical  laws.  What  health  is  to  the  body, 
what  sweetness  is  to  the  lark's  song,  what 
perfume  is  to  the  rose,  that  morality  is  to 
culture  and  character.  Drunkenness  and  glut- 
tony have  not  more  power  to  blear  the  eye 
than  immorality  to  degrade  the  soul.  When 
Homer  tells  us  that  Ulysses  escaped  unharmed 
from  the  enchanted  palace,  but  suffered  injury 
from  his  unfaithfulness  to  a  friend,  the  poet 
wishes  us  to  know  that  it  is  easier  to  recover 
from  the  poison  of  Circe's  cup  than  to  escape 
the  effect  of  disobedience  to  the  laws  of  God. 

Fortunately  nature  is  so  organized  as  to 
keep  the  consequences  of  ill-doing  ever  before 
man's  eyes.  Disobeying  the  law  of  fire  man  is 
burned;  disobeying  the  law  of  steam  man  is 
scalded;  disobeying  the  law  of  honor  friends 
avert  their  faces,  or  the  door  of  the  jail  closes 
behind  the  wrongdoer.  So  few  are  these  laws 
and  so  simple  that  they  could  not  be  plainer 
were  they  emblazoned  upon  the  sky  as  an 
ever-present  scroll.  There  is  the  law  of  rever- 
ence. Conscious  of  vastness  and  sublimity,  in 
the  presence  of  mountains,  man,  frail,  ignorant, 

268 


The  Love  that  Perfects  Life. 

passing  swiftly  to  his  grave,  is  asked  to  bow 
hishead  in  the  presence  of  the  Eternal  One. 
JIhere  is  also  the  law  of  ti'uth  in  speech,  the 
law  of  purity  in  thought,  the  laws  that  forbid 
theft  and  covetousness  and  killing.     But  all 
these   laws  are    gathered  up  and    fulfilled  in 
love,    just  as   the  seven    colors  of  natui^e  are 
gathered  up  and  fulfilled  in  the  one  white  sun- 
beam.    And  he  who  loves  will  fulfill  all  these 
lawsTi    Loving  himself,  man  will  not  waste  his 
physical   treasure.     As   it  was  vandalism  for 
the  iconoclasts  to  pass  through  the  cathedrals 
of    Europe    whitewashing    the    frescoes    and 
breaking  down  the  statues,  much  more  is  it 
vandalism  for  men  to  destroy  that  temple  of 
God  called  the  body.      If  man  loves  his  mind 
he  will,  through  culture,  lead  what  is  germinal 
and  latent  forth  into  full  blossom  and  fruitage. 
He  who  loves  scholarship  will  make  haste  to 
double  the  books  in  his  library.     He  who  loves 
sweetness    will    double    the   sweetness  of   his 
melody.     He   who   loves    friends    will   double 
their  number  and  strengthen  their  affection. 
He  who  loves  industry  will  strengthen  his  toil 
and   lend    it    influence.     Looking    toward  the 
home,    love   fulfills    the    law   of    helpfulness. 
Looking  toward  the  weak  and  poor,  love  fulfills 
the  law  of  service   and    sympathy.     Looking 

269 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

toward  a  great  crisis  for  humanity,  love  fufills 
the  law  of  martyrdom. 

Just  as  summer  fulfills  all  ripeness  and 
growth  for  seed  and  root  and  tree,  so  love  ful- 
fills all  laws  for  self  and  man  and  the  all-loving 
God. 

After  thirty-six  years  of  tireless  toil  Her- 
bert Spencer  has  brought  to  a  conclusion  the 
labors  of  a  lifetime.  His  final  volume  places 
the  capstone  on  the  structure  of  his  philosophy. 
In  reading  these  pages  no  thoughtful  mind 
can  fail  to  perceive  that  for  science  also  has 
dawned  the  vision  splendid.  If  history  began 
with  an  era  of  force,  its  last  and  crowning 
achievement  will  be  the  era  when  love,  organ- 
ized into  laws  and  institutions,  will  lend  per- 
fection to  civilization.  The  upward  march  of 
mankind  has  been  slow  and  accompanied  by 
tremendous  losses.  At  the  beginning  strength 
prevailed  and  weakness  went  to  the  wall;  the 
bird  with  the  swiftest  wing  first  reached 
the  fountain,  the  deer  with  the  swiftest  foot 
reached  the  place  of  shelter,  the  ox  with  the 
strongest  thrust  reached  the  richest  fodder. 
Pushed  back,  weakness  perished,  while  strength 
prevailed  and  propagated. 

This  law  of  violence  received  its  first  check 
through  the  parental  instinct.  Parenthood 
built  a  fortress  with  walls  and  bulwarks  about 

270 


The  Love  that  Perfects  Life. 

the  babe.  Love  of  offspring  caused  a  weak- 
ness to  survive.  At  last  an  era  dawned  when 
many  parents  united  to  construct  a  shield  for 
weak  children  indeed,  but  also  for  weak  adults. 
The  state  lifted  the  shield  between  weakness 
and  its  oppressor.  The  widow  and  the  orphan 
were  pei^mitted  to  glean  after  the  harvesters 
The  traveler,  passing  through  the  field,  might 
pluck  a  handful  of  corn  or  pull  a  bunch  of  figs. 
The  creditor  must  not  take  the  blanket  or  coat 
from  the  laborer  nor  the  boat  from  the  poor 
fisherman,  nor  the  plane  or  saw  from  the  poor 
cai'penter.  Stimulated  by  Christ's  example 
and  teachings,  society  began  to  multiply  the 
bulwarks  against  tyranny  and  selfishness. 
Looking  toward  the  child,  for  the  protection 
of  weakness  and  unripeness,  the  state  built 
these  shields  called  the  school  and  library; 
looking  toward  the  unfortunate  and  those 
weak  in  body  or  mind,  the  state  built  bulwarks 
called  asylum  and  hospital.  Looking  toward 
the  chimney-sweep,  the  factory  boys  and  girls, 
the  state  began  to  soften  pain  and  mitigate 
the  distress  of  labor.  Looking  toward  the 
serf  and  the  slave  and  the  prisoner,  the 
novelist  and  poet  constructed  song  and  story 
as  shields  for  the  protection  of  the  weak  and 
the  oppressed. 

One   hundred   years   ago  a   man  was  as  a 

271 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

beast  of  the  field,  and  the  slaughter  of  men  in 
Italy,   by  the  tyrant   who    ruled   over    them, 
stirred  no  more  thought  in  England  than  the 
news  of  the  slaughter  of  so  many  beasts.    But 
fifty  years  ago  the  state  had  become  so  gentle 
toward   the  weak   that    when    Mr.    Gladstone 
made  a  protest  against  the  savagery  and  in- 
furiated cruelty  wrought  upon  the  inmates  of 
the    dungeons    of    Italy,    then     the   heart  of 
Europe  turned  toward  "Rome,  the  throne  trem- 
bled  upon    its    foundations.     Foi-merly    when 
any  foreign    government    wished    to   colonize 
Africa,  they  sent  out  a  regiment  of  soldiers, 
cut  off  a  slice  of  the  country  and  annexed  it 
Now  public   sentiment  forbids  such   tyranny. 
The  only  way  the  aggressive  nations  can  ob- 
tain possession  of   new  territory  is    to  do  it 
vBider  the  name  of  a  protectorate,  sugar-coat- 
ing, as  has  been  said,  the  deeds  of  tyranny. 
If  the  dungeon  has  been  rifled  of  its  prey,  if 
cruelty  has  been  scourged  out  of  the  land,  if 
despotism  tottered,  it  is  because  society  was 
slowly  climbing  up  that  stairway,  of  which  the 
first  step  is  fear  and  the  last  is  love. 

In  these  January  days  our  earth,  snow-clad 
and  frost-bound,  seems  like  a  huge  ball  of  ice. 
Yet  all  unconsciously  to  itself  the  earth  is 
being  swept  on  into  spring  and  summer.  Un- 
consciously, but  none  the  less  truly,  society, 

272 


The  Love  that  Perfects  Life. 

under  the  silent  and  secret  impulse  of  the 
great  God,  has  been  journeying  upward  toward 
the  time  when  love  shall  fulfill  every  law;  when 
kindness  and  sympathy  shall  be  organized  in 
manners  and  customs.  All  the  I'evolutions  of 
the  past,  all  the  clangor  of  war,  all  the  tum- 
bling down  of  Bastilles,  all  the  piling  up  of 
cities,  is  as  nothing  to  the  advance  of  the 
world  toward  that  era  when  love  shall  perfect 
man's  institutions  and  civilization. 

Love  also  perfects  religion.  It  is  the  glory 
of  Christ  that  he  unveils  the  sovereignty  of 
character  and  crowns  manhood  with  all-ma- 
turing and  all-perfecting  love.  Looking  back- 
ward, man  finds  that  all  religions  fall  into  four 
classes:  There  is  the  religion  of  fear  and  force, 
when  man  offers  sacrifices  to  appease  the  gods 
and  conciliate  justice.  There  is  the  religion 
of  law,  when  men  I'educe  life  to  formal  rules, 
and  the  Pharisee  rigorously  fulfills  his  duty  as 
chief,  or  trader,  or  friend.  There  is  the  reli- 
gion of  romanticism,  when  men  of  powerful 
intellect  and  strong  imagination  evolve  their 
ideal  and,  withdrawing  to  some  cave,  give 
themselves  to  reverie.  In  all  such  self  be- 
comes an  orb,  so  large  as  to  eclipse  brother 
man  and  God.  Last  of  all  there  is  the  religion 
of  Christ,  in  which  love  is  I'oot,  blossom  and 
fruitage.     It  aims  at  the  development  and  un- 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

folding  of  everything  that  is  gracious  in  life; 
whatever  stinkes  at  admiration,  whether  it  is 
in  school,  in  art,  in  song,  in  wit,  in  travel,  in 
books;  whatever  is  praiseworthy  in  courcge  or 
endurance;  whatever  has  fineness  and  sweet- 
ness and  nobility;  all  that  belongs  to  the  hero 
and  patriot;  all  that  belongs  to  the  seer  and 
scholar;  all  that  belongs  to  leadership  in  trade 
and  commerce — all  these  elements  are  to  be 
united  and  carried  upward  into  the  sweetness 
and  purity  of  life,  until  the  full  man,  standing 
apart  and  standing  above  life,  seems  to  have 
been  informed  with  divine  love,  as  with  a  pres- 
ence. 

And  when  love  has  made  the  most  of  the 
man  himself  it  overflows  to  bless  others. 
Christ's  disciples  are  not  here  to  be  ministered 
unto,  but  to  minister.  Religion,  says  Christ, 
is  love,  and  love  is  gentle  toward  those  with 
hollow  eyes  and  famine-stricken  faces.  Love 
is  kindly  toward  those  who  have  a  tragedy 
written  in  the  sharpened  countenance.  Love 
is  patient  toward  those  who  have  lost  fidelity, 
as  a  man  loses  a  golden  coin;  who  have  lost 
morality  as  one  who  flounders  in  the  Alpine 
drifts.  And  this  religion  of  love  takes  on  a 
thousand  modern  forms.  If  it  is  not  rowing 
out  against  the  darkness  and  storm,  as  did 
Grace  Darling  to  save  the  shipwrecked,  it  is 

274 


The  Love  that  Perfects  Life. 

going  forth  to  those  tossed  upon  life's  billows, 
to  succor  and  to  save.  For  love  is  making  the 
individual  life  beautiful,  making  the  home 
beautiful,  and  will  at  last  make  the  church  and 
state  beautiful.  Men  will  not  bow  down  to 
crowned  power  nor  philosophic  power  nor 
esthetic  power;  but,  in  the  presence  of  a  great 
soul,  filled  with  vigor  of  inspiration  and  glowing 
with  love,  man  will  do  obeisance.  There  is  no 
force  upon  earth  like  divine  love  in  the  heart 
of  man,  and  at  last  that  force  will  sweeten  and 
regenerate  society. 

Love  also  fulfills  immortality.  Of  late 
science  has  reduced  the  niunber  of  things  that 
endure.  The  astronomer  tells  us  the  sun  is 
burning  up,  and  will  be  a  dying  ash-heap  as 
truly  as  the  coal  in  man's  cellar  will  be  ex- 
hausted. The  geologists  tell  us  the  flowing  of 
"the  crystal  springs  wearies  the  mountain's 
heart  as  truly  as  the  beating  of  the  crimson 
pulse  wearies  man's;  that  the  force  of  the  iron 
crag  is  abated  in  its  time,  like  the  strength  of 
human  sinews  in  old  age."  The  everlasting 
mountains  are  doomed  to  decay  as  surely  as 
the  moth  and  worm.  It  seems  that  the  shin- 
ing texture  of  stars  and  suns  must  wax  old, 
like  a  garment,  and  decay.  If  now  youth  is 
eager  to  master  all  knowledge,  plunge  into 
the  thick  of  life's  battle,  forge  some  tool,  enact 

275 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

some  law,  right  some  wrong,  the  time  will 
speedily  come  when  the  man  will  sit  down  amid 
the  ruins  of  his  life  and  confess  that  his  idols 
have  been  shivered,  one  by  one. 

He  who  loves  endures.  For  him  always  all 
is  well.  That  youth  with  a  great  love  for 
nature's  treasures  that  promised  fame,  but  who 
found  his  open  book  crimson  with  the  life-cur- 
rent, may  dry  his  tears,  for  love  is  immortal 
and  beyond  he  will  fulfill  the  dreams  denied 
here.  Because  he  loves  the  slave,  Livingstone, 
falling  in  the  African  forest,  need  not  fear,  for 
love  will  make  his  work  immortal.  The  sweet 
mother,  whose  love  overarches  the  cradle  with 
thoughts  that  for  number  are  beyond  the  stars, 
need  not  fear  to  leave  behind  the  gentle  babe, 
for  everlasting  love  will  encircle  it.  Falling 
!nto  unconsciousness  and  putting  out  upon  the 
yeasty  sea  midst  the  falling  dai'kness,  man 
may  call  back:  "  I  still  live."  For  God  is  love 
and  God  is  eternal.  Therefore  man  who  loves 
is  immortal  also. 


276 


Hope's  Harvest,  and  the  Far-off 
Interest  of  Tears. 


"  Let  Love  clasp  Grief  lest  both  be  drown'd, 

Let  Darkness  keep  her  raven  gloss ; 

Ah,  sweeter  to  be  drunk  with  loss, 

To  dance  with  Death  to  beat  the  ground  !"        — Tennyson. 

«*Soul,  rule  thyself.      On  passion,  deed,  desire. 

Lay  thou  the  laws  of  thy  deliberate  will. 

Stand  at  thy  chosen  post,  Faith's  sentinel : 

Though  Hell's  lost  legions  ring  thee  round  with  fire, 

Learn  to  endure.       Dark  vigil  hours  shall  tire 

Thy  wakeful  eyes  ;    regrets  thy  bosom  thrill ; 

Slow  years  thy  loveless  flower  of  youth  shall  kill ; 

Yea,  thou  shalt  yearn  for  lute  and  wanton  lyre. 

Yet  is  thy  guerdon  great  ;   thine  the  reward 

Of  those  elect,  who,  scorning  Circe's  lure. 

Grown  early  wise,  make  living  light  their  lord. 

Clothed  with  celestial  steel,  these  walk  secure. 

Masters,  not  slaves.      Over  their  heads  the  pure 

Heavens  bow,  and  guardian  seraphs  wave  God's  sword." 

— y.  A.  Symonds. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Hope's  Harvest,  and  the  Far-off 

Interest  of  Tears. 

The  soul  is  monarch  of  three  kingdoms.   Man 
lives  at  once  in  the  present,  the  past  and  the 
future.      Memory  presides  over  yesterday;  to- 
day  is  ruled  by  reason;    to-morrow  is  under 
the  sway  of  hope.    The  ancient  seer  who  stood 
by  the  historic  vine  reflecting  how  the  rain  of 
yesterday  had  disappeared  to  give  its  sweet 
liquors  to  the  roots  only  to  reappear  to-morrow 
in  purple  clusters,  gave  us  a  beautiful  image 
of  himself.     Each  human  life   is   like  unto  a 
vine — its   trunk  manifest    in  the  present;    its 
roots  deeply  buried  in  the  past;  its  branches 
throwing  themselves  forward,    ripening   fruit 
for  days  to  come.     Life  is  a  solid  column  of 
days  all  compacted  together.    To-day's  useful- 
ness   is   in    the  number   of    wise,    happy  and 
helpful  yesterdays,  whose  accvimulated  treas- 
ures crowd  forward  the  soul's  present  activi- 
ties.    But   for   his    yesterdays    stored    up   in 
memory  man  would  be  impotent  for  any  heroic 
thought   or   deed.     He    would   remain   a  per- 
petual  infant.     As  the  child   journeys  away 

279 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

from  the  cradle  memory  gathers  up  and  car- 
ries forward  faces,  words,  books,  arts,  sci- 
ences, literatures;  and  these  recollections  are 
embalmed  and  transmitted  as  soul-capital, 
legacies  unspeakably  precious. 

Yesterday,  therefore,  is  no  mausoleum  of  dead 
deeds;  no  storehouse  of  mummies.  Memory  is  a 
granary  holding  seed  for  to-morrow's  sowing; 
memory  is  an  armory  holding  weapons  for  to- 
morrow's battles;  memory  is  a  medicine-chest 
with  balms  for  to-morrow's  hurts;  memory  is 
a  library  with  wisdom  for  to-morrow's  emer- 
gency. Yesterday  holds  the  full  store  of  to- 
day's civilization;  contains  our  tools,  conven- 
iences, knowledges;  contains  our  battlefields 
and  victories;  above  all  gives  us  Bethlehem 
and  Calvary.  But  alone  man's  yesterday  is 
impotent;  his  to-morrow  insufficient.  The  true 
man  binds  all  his  days  together  with  an  earn- 
est, intense,  passionate  purpose.  His  yester- 
days, to-days  and  to-morrows  march  together, 
one  solid  column,  animated  by  one  thought, 
constrained  by  one  conspiracy  of  desire,  ener- 
gizing toward  one  holy  and  helpful  purpose,  to 
serve  man  and  love  God. 

God  governs  man  through  the  regency  of 
hope.  The  reasons  thereof  are  self-evident. 
Man  is  born  a  long  way  from  home.  No  cradle 
rocks  a  full-orbed  manhood.      The  babe  begins 

a8o 


Hope's  Harvest. 

a  mere  handful  of  germs;  a  bough  of  unblos- 
somed  buds.  It  is  a  weary  climb  from  nothing 
to  manhood,  at  its  best.  As  things  rise  in  the 
scale  of  being  the  distance  between  birth  and 
maturity  widens.  Mollusks  are  born  close  up 
to  their  full  estate,  sandflies  mature  in  two 
days, ^butterflies  in  two  weeks,  humming-birds 
in  as  many  months.  But  let  no  man  think  the 
vast  all-shadowing  redwood  trees  of  California 
grew  in  a  mushroomic  night.  When  the  seed 
first  thrust  its  rootlets  down  into  the  soil  and 
its  plumule  up  to  the  sunshine  it  entered  upon 
a  long  career.  Saved  by  hope  after  800  years 
of  growth  it  gives  shade  to  myriads  of  birds; 
beams  for  lath  and  loom  and  ship  in  the  ser- 
vice of  industry;  lends  pen  and  pencil  to  poet 
and  artist  in  the  service  of  beauty;  through 
desk  and  pew  enters  into  man's  intellectual 
and  moral  life;  through  instruments  of  conven- 
ience strengthens  the  sweet  amenities  of  the 
home;  working,  it  also  waited  and  is  saved  by 
hope. 

Man  stands  at  the  very  summit  of  cre- 
ation. He  is  at  the  head  of  all  that  creep  and 
swim  and  walk  and  fly.  Preparatory  to  his 
dominion  he  begins  with  the  lowest  and  runs 
the  whole  gamut  of  experience  of  all  living 
things  below  him.  And  hope  alone  can  save 
him  as  he  journeys   upward   through  all   the 

281 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

intermediate  stages  on  his  way  to  his  throne 
and  his  God.  Big  with  destiny,  he  is  saved  by 
hope.  Not  to-day  and  not  yesterday  can  suf- 
fice. The  present  offers  only  standing  room 
—  four-and-twenty  hours.  Memory  is  a  bin 
banked  with  snowdrifts,  not  the  waving  har- 
vest-fields. Man's  life  is  all  in  front  of  him. 
His  large  endowment  asks  for  an  extended 
period  of  time;  asks  seventy  yeai's  for  skill 
toward  his  body;  asks  an  immortal  destiny  for 
mind  and  heart.  He  is  saved  by  hope  and 
futurity. 

Consider  the  scope  and  functions  of  hope 
and  aspiration.  Man  is  governed  from  above 
and  within ;  while  rocks,  birds,  beasts  are 
governed  from  below  and  without.  Gravity 
holds  the  bowlder  in  its  place.  The  channel 
saith  to  the  river:  "Thus  far  and  no  farther." 
The  fawn  that  is  struck,  the  lion  that  strikes, 
the  eagle  dwelling  above  both,  are  controlled 
by  fear.  The  charioteer  drives  his  steeds  from 
behind  and  controls  by  rein  and  scourge.  But 
man  is  controlled  from  within  and  in  front. 
God  does  not  scourge  his  children  forward 
through  whips  of  fear.  Hopes  moving  on  be- 
fore him  lure  him  onward.  The  Italian  artist 
shows  us  the  child  passing  near  the  precipice. 
Then  drew  near  a  gentle  guardian  spirit.  The 
unseen  friend  rolled  along  the  pathway  apples 

282 


Hope's  Harvest. 

of  Paradise  and  the  child,  following  after  with 
shouts  of  glee,  was  lured  from  danger.  To 
the  beauty  of  the  artist's  thought  Homer's 
story  adds  elements  of  instruction.  When  the 
Grecian  boy  was  pursued  by  a  giant  whose 
breath  was  fire,  whose  hand  held  a  huge  club, 
two  invisible  beings  lent  help.  One  took  the 
boy's  hand  and  lifted  him  forward,  the  other 
casting  an  invisible  cord  over  him  flew  before 
him  until  his  speed  was  doubled  and  the  pal- 
ace gates  gave  shelter.  Oh,  beautiful  story  of 
God's  gentle  rule  o'er  men!  When  troubles 
sweep  over  the  world  like  sheeted  storms, 
when  men  fear  exceedingly  and  strong  men 
cower  and  shrink  and  little  ones  believe  the 
next  step  to  be  the  precipice,  then  God  smiles. 
Striking  some  sweet  bell  he  sends  forth  mes- 
sengers to  lure  men  forward;  they  hang  stars 
in  man's  night;  they  whisper  that  the  twilight 
is  nothing,  since  it  is  morning  twilight;  that 
fears  ai^e  bats  and  owls  hooting  at  the  dawn; 
that  hope  is  a  lark  singing  the  new  day ;  that 
God  reigns  and  all  is  well.  Then  depart  all 
fears  and  superstitions.  The  courage  of  the 
future  comes;  the  columns  begin  a  forward 
march.  These  upward  movements  of  society 
are  the  yeai-nings  of  God's  heart  lifting  his 
children  forward  by  hope. 

Hope  and  aspiration  also  furnish  the  secret 

283 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

springs  of  civilization.  All  things  useful  and 
beautiful  were  once  only  hopes  and  ideas. 
Free  institutions  are  ideals  of  liberty,  crystal- 
lized into  word  forms.  Tools  and  instruments 
are  ideals  dressed  up  in  iron  clothes.  The 
early  forest  man  dwelt  in  a  cave;  ached  with 
cold  and  moaned  with  hunger.  Going  into 
the  forest  to  dig  roots  he  found  honey  hived 
by  the  bees  and  nuts  stored  up  by  squirrels 
against  the  winter.  Straightway  hope  sug- 
gested to  him  a  lai'ger  gi^anary,  whence  hath 
come  all  man's  bins  and  storehouses.  Man 
plucked  a  large  plum  and  found  it  sour,  and 
another  plum  small,  but  sweet.  Hope  sug- 
gested that  he  unite  the  two  and  strike  through 
the  abundant  acid  juices  of  the  one  with  the 
sugar  of  the  other.  Thence  came  all  vine- 
yards and  orchards.  Digging  in  the  soil  tired 
him,  but  hope  suggested  that  his  pet  ox  might 
pull  his  forked  stick;  when  the  wooden  stick 
wore  blunt  hope  replaced  it  with  an  iron  point; 
when  the  iron  point  refused  to  scour  hope 
suggested  steel;  when  the  steel  made  his  bur- 
den light  and  doubled  the  pace  of  his  steeds, 
hope  suggested  a  seat  on  the  plow;  when  the 
riding-plow  gave  him  time  to  think,  hope 
suggested  he  could  increase  the  harvest  by 
doubling  the  depth;  when  the  weight  was 
overheavy  for  his    beasts,    hope  suggested  a 

284 


Hope's  Harvest. 

steam-plow.  The  Kensington  Museum  ex- 
hibits the  growth  of  the  plow  idea,  as  it  moved 
from  the  forked  stick  to  the  "steam  gang." 
If  in  this  procession  of  material  plows  we 
could  see  the  procession  of  ideal  plows  we 
would  find  that  thoughts  and  hopes  are  a  thou- 
sandfold more  than  material  things. 

By  hope  also  do  the  people  increase  in  wis- 
dom and  culture  and  character.  Millions  of 
men  are  digging  and  toiling  twelve  hours  each 
day;  and  God  hath  sent  forth  hope  to  eman- 
cipate them  from  drudgery.  The  man  digging 
with  his  pick  hath  a  far-away  look  as  he  toils. 
Hope  is  drawing  pictures  of  a  cottage  with 
vines  over  the  doorway,  with  some  one  stand- 
ing at  the  gate,  a  sweet  voice  singing  over 
the  cradle.  Hope  makes  this  home  his ;  it  rests 
the  laborer  and  saves  him  from  despair.  Mul- 
titudes working  in  the  stithy  and  deep  mines 
sweeten  their  labor  and  exalt  their  toil  by 
aspiring  thoughts.  Thinking  of  his  little  ones 
at  home,  the  miner  says:  "My  children  shall 
not  be  as  their  father  was;  my  drudgery  is 
not  for  self,  but  for  love's  sake;  the  sweat  of 
my  brow  is  oil  in  the  lamp  of  love;  I  will  light 
it  to-night  on  the  sacred  altar  of  home."  Here 
is  the  secret  of  the  rise  and  reign  of  the  peo- 
ple. This  explains  all  man's  progress  in 
knowledge   and   culture.     As   the  fruits   and 

285 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

flowers  rise  rank  upon  rank  in  response  to  the 
advancing  summer,  so  all  that  is  most  refined 
and  exalted  in  man's  mind  or  heart  bursts 
forth  in  new  ideals,  reforms,  revolutions,  in  re- 
spouse  to  the  revelation  of  that  personal 
presence  from  whom  all  hope  and  aspiration 
incessantly  proceed. 

Hope's  noble  ministry  hath  grievous  enemies. 
Among  these  let  us  include  a  false  use  of  the 
past.  The  old  year  contains  sins  and  mis- 
takes; but  multitudes  err  in  dwelling  too  much 
upon  their  wrongs.  Each  man  hath  had  his 
temptations,  each  his  fierce  conflicts  and  de- 
feats, each  bears  grievous  scars  from  the 
battle-field.  Yet  if  one  constantly  relieves  all 
his  old  sins  life  will  be  filled  with  hideous 
specters.  Memory  will  become  a  place  of  tor- 
ment and  a  ghastly  chamber  of  horrors.  We 
shall  be  the  children  of  despondency  and 
wretchedness.  Memory  will  be  a  graveyard; 
the  past  will  give  no  light  save  the  "  will-o' 
the-wisp  "  light  from  putrescence  and  decay. 
All  the  springs  of  joy  will  be  poisoned 
by  morbid  griefs  that  keep  open  old  wounds. 
The  city  hath  its  offal  heap  where  refuse  mat- 
ter is  destroyed;  each  home  its  garret,  the 
contents  cast  out  at  regular  intervals;  the 
individual  throws  away  his  old  clothes,  old 
tools,  old  vehicles.     Why  should  not  the  soul 

286 


Hope's  Harvest. 

have  its  refuse  valley — where  the  past  is  cast 
out  of  life  and  memory? 

Farmers'  boys  sometimes  set  steel  traps  by 
shocks  of  corn  whither  come  quail  and  prairie 
chickens.  Stepping  upon  the  traps,  the  cruel 
jaws  close  upon  foot  or  wing  and  the  bleeding 
bird  beats  out  its  life  upon  the  frozen  ground. 
Memory  often  with  cruel  jaws  holds  men 
entrapped.  A  single  error  wrecks  the  whole 
life.  But  once  forgiven  of  God  let  the  sin  go. 
Reflection  upon  past  sins  is  good  only  so  long 
as  it  produces  revulsion  from  sin,  and  like  a 
bow  shoots  the  soul  toward  God  and  righteous- 
ness. God  is  like  a  mother  who  forgives  the 
child's  sin  into  everlasting  forgetfulness.  Man 
should  be  ashamed  to  remember  what  God  for- 
gets. "I  will  cast  your  sins  into  the  depth 
of  the  sea."  Someone  says:  "God  receives 
the  soul  as  the  sea  the  bather,  to  return  it 
cleansed — itself  unsoiled."  Gather  up,  there- 
fore, all  thy  sins — old  wrongs,  old  hatreds, 
burning  angers,  memories  of  men's  treachery; 
stuff  them  into  a  bag  and  heave  them  into  the 
gulf  of  oblivion.  Your  life  is  not  in  the  past, 
but  in  the  future.      "We  are  saved  by  hope." 

Multitudes  may  embitter  their  new  year  by 
undue  reflections  over  opportunities  neglected 
and  lost  in  the  past  and  denied  in  the  present. 
Professor  Agassiz  tells  of  a  friend  who  sold  his 

287 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

farm  in  Pennsylvania  for  $5,000  to  invest  it 
in  Dakota,  and  after  losing  all  in  the  new 
home  returned  to  find  the  German  who  pur- 
chased the  homestead  had  found  oil  and  great 
wealth  in  a  swamp  which  he  had  tried  to  drain 
off.  An  old  gentleman  recently  told  of  his 
refusal  in  1840  to  accept  as  payment  of  a 
small  note  a  lot  on  a  corner  in  Chicago  now 
worth  a  million  dollars,  and  he  shed  bitter 
tears  over  the  loss  of  poperty  he  never  owned. 
When  All  Hafed  heard  of  the  diamonds  in 
India  he  sold  his  estate  and  went  forth  to  seek 
his  fortune.  His  successor,  watering  his 
camel  in  the  garden,  saw  the  gleam  of  gems 
in  the  white  sand  and  discovered  the  Golconda 
mines.  Had  Ali  Hafed  had  eyes  to  see  his 
would  have  been  boundless  treasure  at  home 
instead  of  poverty,  starvation  and  death. 
These  and  similar  legends  stand  for  the  op- 
portunities that  have  gone  forever.  How 
many  neglected  their  opportunities  for  educa- 
tion; how  they  knocked  unbidden  at  every 
door  and  no  man  opened.  Others  were  denied 
culture,  and  now  feel  they  are  unfulfilled 
prophecies.  Many  by  one  error  have  injured 
eye  or  ear  or  lung  or  limb  or  nervous  system. 
They  grievously  handicapped  themselves. 
Others  by  ingratitude,  infidelity  to  trusts, 
treachery  to  friends,  have  poisoned  happiness. 

288 


Hope's  Harvest. 

Repentance  is  theirs,  and  also  forgiveness,  but 
not  forgetfulness.  The  past  is  full  of  bitter- 
ness. 

Let  the  dead  past  bury  its  dead.  The  future 
is  still  GUI'S.  The  trees  in  October  willingly 
let  go  their  leaves  to  fall  into  the  ditch.  Their 
life  is  not  in  last  year's  leaves,  but  in  the 
infant  buds  that  crowd  the  old  leaves  ofif. 
Put  forth  new  activities.  Open  new  furrows. 
Sow  new  seed.  This  new  year  is  all  thine; 
but  the  time  is  short.  Fulfill  his  dictum  who 
said:  "I  am  as  one  going  once  across  this 
vast  continent;  I  would  lean  forth  and  sow  as 
far  as  hand  can  scatter  my  seed.  Let  the 
angels  count  the  bundles."  No  man  should 
be  discouraged  in  whom  God  believes,  pre- 
serving him  in  life.  Let  hope  in  God  sweeten 
life's  bitterness. 

Another  enemy  of  hopefulness  is  found  in 
nervous  excesses  and  overwork.  Men  drain 
away  their  vitality.  Ambitions  unduly  stim- 
ulate the  brain.  Many  break  the  laws  of  sleep 
and  the  laws  of  digestion  and  the  laws  of  nerve 
sobriety.  They  spend  their  brain  capital. 
Then  they  grow  hopeless  toward  home  and 
business.  Ill-health  spreads  a  gloom  over  all 
life.  Every  judgment  is  pessimistic;  it  could 
not  be  otherwise.  The  jaundiced  eye  yellows 
the  landscape.      The  sweetest  music  ra^ps  like 

289 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

a  file  upon  the  nervous  ear.     Thomas  Carlyle's 
pessimism    was   largely  physical.      He    over- 
worked   upon    his    life   of    Oliver  Cromwell. 
Maurice  once  said  :     "  Carlyle  believed  in  God 
down  to  the  time  of  Oliver  Cromwell."     Once, 
in   a  moment  of   depression,  Lyman   Beecher 
prayed:     "Lord,  keep  us   from  despising  our 
rulers,   and   help  them   to  stop  acting  so  we 
cannot   help   despising    them."     Poor,  nerve- 
racked  Pascal,   grew   fearful   lest  his  affection 
for  his  sister,  who  had  nursed  him  through  a 
long  illness,  was  sinful.      One  day  he  wrote  in 
his  journal:    "Lord,  forgive  me  for  loving  my 
dear    sister  so  much  !"      Afterward    he  drew 
his  pen  through  the  woi'd  "  dear,"     Hope  and 
trust  toward  God  go  with    health.      Sickliness 
is  not  saintliness.      God  cannot   save  by  hope 
what  man  destroys  by  ill-health. 

Dean  Stanley  used  hopefulness  as  a  test  of 
all  systems  of  truth.  Rightly  so.  God  is  the 
God  of  hope,  and  his  truth,  like  himself,  carries 
the  atmosphere  of  good  cheer.  The  falsity  of 
medievalism  appears  in  this — it  robbed  men  of 
joy  and  gladness.  God  was  the  center  of 
darkness.  His  throne  was  iron.  His  heart 
was  marble.  His  laws  were  huge  implements 
of  destruction.  His  penalties  were  red-hot 
cannon  balls  crashing  along  the  sinner's  path- 
way.    Repentance    towai'd    God    was    moving 

290 


Hope's  Harvest. 

towai'd  the  arctics  and  away  from  the  tropics. 
Christianity  was  anything  but  "peace  on 
earth,  good  will  to  men." 

Philosophers  destroyed  God's  winsomeness. 
The  reformers  came  in  to  lead  men  away  from 
medievalism  back  to  God  himself.  Men  found 
hope  again  in  redemptive  love.  They  saw 
that  any  conception  of  God  that  dispirited  and 
depressed  men  was  perverted  and  false.  No 
man  hath  done  more  to  establish  this  fact  than 
him  who  long  ago  said:  "Any  presentation 
of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  that  does  not 
come  to  the  world  as  the  balmy  days  of  May 
comes  to  the  unlocked  northern  zones;  any 
way  of  preaching  the  love  of  God  in  Christ 
which  is  not  as  full  of  sweetness  as  the  voice 
of  the  angels  when  they  sang  at  the  advent; 
any  way  of  making  known  the  proclamation 
of  mercy  which  has  not  at  least  as  many  birds 
as  there  are  in  June  and  as  many  flowers  as 
the  dumb  meadows  know  how  to  brinsr  forth- 
any  method  of  bringing  before  men  the  doc- 
trine of  salvation  which  does  not  make  every- 
one feel,  '  There  is  hope  for  me  in  God— in  the 
divine  plan,  in  the  very  nature  of  the  organi- 
zation of  human  life  and  society,'  is  spurious 
— is  a  slander  on  God  and  is  blasphemy  against 
his  love." 

Hope  hath  her  harvest  also  for  teachers  and 

291 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

reformers.  Often  men  think  their  work  is 
squandered.  They  seem  to  be  sowing  seed 
not  upon  the  Nile,  to  find  it  again  abundantly, 
but  in  midocean,  to  sink  and  come  to  naught. 
Parents  and  teachers  break  their  hearts,  fear- 
ing their  watchfulness  and  instruction  have 
failed.  Men  sow  wheat  and  wait  six  months 
for  a  harvest;  but  they  sow  moral  seed  Sun- 
day and  on  Monday  whip  their  children  because 
the  seed  has  not  ripened.  They  forget  that 
apples  bitter  in  July  may  be  sweet  in  August. 
To-day's  vice  in  the  child  is  often  to-morrow's 
virtue,  as  acid  juices  through  frost  become 
saccharine.  Yesterday  the  mother  rocked  a 
little  angel  in  the  cradle;  to-day  she  moans: 
* '  Alas,  that  I  should  have  rocked  a  little  fox, 
a  little  serpent,  a  little  wolf  !"  To-morrow  the 
child  becomes  a  model  of  truth  and  integrity. 
The  sage  might  have  said:  "It  is  good  that 
woman  should  hope  and  wait."  Truth's  errand 
has  always  been  a  successful  errand.  Not  a 
single  social  truth  or  civic  truth  or  moral 
truth  has  ever  been  lost  out  of  the  world. 
Secrets  of  cruelty  and  fraud,  secrets  of  op- 
pression and  sin  perish,  but  nothing  that 
makes  life  happier  or  better  hath  been  for- 
gotten. We  do  not  have  to  keep  God  and 
truth  alive;  they  keep  us  alive.  Vegetable 
seeds  can  be  killed,  but  not  moral  seeds.  When 

292 


Hope's  Harvest. 

God  issues  his  silent  command  to  the  earth 
flying  into  winter  and  wheels  it  back  toward 
summer,  it  is  given  to  no  man  to  put  a  brake 
upon  warmth ;  nor  can  he  go  up  against  the 
spring  with  swords  and  banners.  But  easier 
this  than  staying  the  upward  march  of  man- 
kind. God  is  abroad  upon  a  mission  of  re- 
covery. Open  thy  hand,  O  publicist  !  and 
sow  thy  seed.  The  seed  shall  perish,  but  not 
the  harvest. 

Our  childhood  was  pleased  with  the  story 
of  the  old  monk  who  was  shipwrecked  alone 
on  a  desert  isle.  He  always  carried  with 
him  a  few  roots  and  seeds.  Planting  these,  he 
died,  but  sailors  coming  twenty  years  later 
found  the  isle  waving  with  fruit  trees.  To  the 
beauty  of  this  legend  let  us  add  the  truth  of 
one  who  has  made  all  this  land  his  debtor.  In 
1801  a  youth  passed  through  western  Penn- 
sylvania. He  was  collecting  apple  seeds  with 
which  to  found  orchards  in  the  then  unbroken 
states  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Michigan. 
When  he  came  to  an  open,  sunny  spot  in  the 
forest  he  would  plant  his  seeds  and  pi'otect 
them  with  a  brush  fence.  Years  afterward 
new  settlers  found  hundreds  of  these  embryo 
orchards  in  the  forests.  Thrice  he  floated  his 
canoe  laden  with  seeds  down  the  Ohio  to  the 
settlers    in    Kentucky.     To    this    brave   man. 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

called  by  our  Congressional  Record  "  Johnny 
ApjDleseed, "  whole  states  owe  their  wealth  and 
ti'easure  of  vineyards  and  orchards.  This  in- 
trepid man  is  a  beautiful  type  of  all  those  who, 
passing  through  life's  wastes,  sow  the  land 
with  God's  eternal  truths,  whose  leaves  and 
fruits  heal  nations.  If  God  remembers  the 
roots  in  dark  forests  he  will  not  forget  his 
truths  in  himian  hearts.  Therefore,  sow  thy 
seed.     Ye  are  saved  by  hope. 

The  ground  and  basis  of  all  hope  whatso- 
ever is  God.  It  is  his  good  providence  and 
redemptive  love  in  Jesus  Christ  that  make  us 
optimists.  Hope  is  not  within  the  scope  of 
our  wisdom  or  culture  or  skill;  and  hope  is 
not  in  our  health  or  tool  or  treasure.  We 
journey  into  an  unknown  future.  It  is  not 
given  to  us  to  know  what  a  day  or  an  hour  of 
the  new  year  may  bring  forth.  How  impotent 
are  the  wisest  and  strongest  in  the  hour  when 
we  hear  the  sound  of  the  ocean  and  in  dark- 
ness ford  the  deep  and  dangerous  river,  beyond 
which  is  high  and  eternal  noon.  What  can 
the  child  on  some  great  ocean  steamer  caught 
in  a  winter's  storm  do  to  overcome  the  tem- 
pest? Can  it  drive  the  fierce  blasts  back  to 
their  "northern  haunts?  Can  its  little  hand 
hold  the  wheel  and  guide  the  great  ship?  Can 
its  voice  still  the  billows  that  can  crush  the 

294 


Hope's  Harvest. 

steamer  like  an  egg-shell  ?  Can  its  breath 
destroy  the  icy  coat  of  mail  that  covers  all  the 
decks?  What  the  child  can  do  is  trust  the 
Captain  who  has  brought  this  same  ship 
through  a  hundred  hard  storms.  It  can  rest 
and  trust  and  hope.  And  all  we  upon  this 
great  earth-ship  have  been  caught,  not  in  a 
storm,  but  in  the  gulf  stream  of  God's  provi- 
dence. The  warm  tropic  currents  sweep  us  on 
to  the  heavenly  harbor.  The  trade  winds 
above  aid  the  forward  flight.  More  than  all 
else  is  the  larger  planetary  movement  that 
sweeps  gulf  stream,  winds  and  ship  onward 
towards  the  infinite.  Soon  shall  we  enter  into 
quiet  waters  and  cast  out  our  anchor. 

Looking  forward,  let  us  hope  and  cleanse 
all  fear  out  of  life — trust  God,  love  him  and 
rejoice.  Even  our  largest  problems  needs  not 
dispirit  us.  Problems  are  not  to  be  analyzed, 
but  accepted.  He  who  analyzes  a  flower  loses 
it.  He  who  cracks  a  diamond  to  see  what  it 
is,  is  without  both  gem  and  knowledge.  Life's 
great  questions  are  seeds.  Plant  a  seed,  then 
wait.  Some  day  the  flower  and  fruit  will  ex- 
plain the  seed.  It  is  well  to  lay  aside  difficult 
questions  to  be  asked  some  day  at  the  throne 
of  God.  Then  we  will  look  back  to  smile  at 
what  now  disturbs  us  exceedingly.  Remem- 
ber the  Russian  Cathedral — travelers   tell  us 

295 


The  Investment  of  Influence. 

the  din  and  noise  of  the  crowds  thronging 
under  the  dome  to  those  above  the  dome  be- 
come a  strain  of  soft  music.  It  is  good  to  hope 
and  wait.  Because  God  lives  and  loves,  man 
should  enter  the  future  as  he  enters  temple  or 
cathedral — to  dedicate  all  its  days  to  hope  and 
aspiration. 


296 


INDEX. 


Anti-slavery     movement, 

the;  Wilberforce 211 

Arnold,  Benedict 243 

Arnold  of  Rugby 189 

Audubon,  wife  of 98 

Bacon;  Pascal 75 

"Baucis  and  Philemon".    249 

Caesar,  the  value  of  per- 
sonality        16 

Carey,  William 171 

Carlyle,  wife  of 186 

Christ,  coming  of 122 

Christian  manhood,  the..   259 
Christ    the   supreme    ex- 
ample        3° 

Civilization,     achieve- 

ments  of 136 

Civilization,  Christ's 

promise   for 5^ 

Classic  writer,  tale  of  a .  .      24 
Culture,     Character, 
Beauty,  the  secret  of . .    163 

Darwin    on    Christian 

teachers 168 

Desert,  oases  of 35 

Divine  Teacher,  the 177 

England,  career  of 253 

England,  orphan  babes  of  210 
English   visitor,  the 148 

Fame  a  holy  ambition ...      29 

Faneuil,  Peter 215 

Fathers,   the;    uprising  of 
1861 55 


Feeling  and  sentiment. . .    142 
Forest,    a — differing   con- 
ceptions of 60 

Fourth  century,  the 223 

France — king   of;     Marie 

Antionette;  Carlyle,  63,  64 
Friendship  an  open  sesame  231 

Garfield 158 

Genius    marred     by    ab- 
sence of  humble  virtues  207 

Gentleness,  lack  of 181 

God,     erroneous    concep- 
tion of 191 

God,    man's    attitude 

toward 65 

God,  punishments  of .  .  .  .      85 
God  the  ground  and  basis 

of  all    hope 294 

God's  world  a  good  world     36 

Gough,  John  B 144 

Great   hearts 134 

Greatness    an    accumula- 
tion of  little  deeds . , . .    202 

Grey,  Jane 201 

Growth   by   accretion; 
from    seed 24^ 

Heart  and  intellect 138 

Heart    and    the    age    of 

cruelty 139 

Heart  transformations. . .  145 
Heroism — t  he   Divine 

Teacher;  Henry  Grady; 

Napier;    Browning; 

Ruskin 9*-95 


297 


Index. 


Holland,   greatness  of; 

William  the  Silent.  .  .  170 
Homer's  ideal,  Helen...  119 
Hope  and   aspiration, 

functions  of 282 

Hope,   enemies  of 286 

Hope   long  deferred 112 

Howard;    Goodyear;   Pat- 

teson 79,  80 

Hugo,    Victor 165 

Human  life,  enemies  of. .    205 
Humanity  and  social  sym- 
pathy        100 

Industrial  law  the  law  of 
sacrifice 161 

Intelligence,  ignorance. ..    125 

Keats 183 

"Keep  thou  this  man".  .    219 
King  Saul  and  the  seer.  .      14 

Labor,  problem  of. 1 24 

Labor,  fruition  of 127 

Law  of  violence,  the.  .  .  .  270 

Life  a  column  of  days. .  .  279 

Life,  problem   of 239 

Life's  better  hours 233 

Lincoln,  Abraham 56 

Livingstone 180 

Love,  definition  of 264 

Love  and  immortality...  275 
Love    the    fulfillment    of 

all  ethical  laws 268 

Lowly  woman,  career  of  a  19 

Man    governed     through 

hope 280 

Man,     influence     of    for 

good  or  evil 13 

Man,  the  great  destroyer.  23 
Man,  a  force-producer.  ,  .  25 
Man,     unpurposed    influ- 
ence  of 27 

Moral  retribution 251 


Nature,   favors  of 71 

Nature,  mysterious  work- 
ings of 241 

New  womanhood,  the.  .  .      98 
Nerve    and     brain    force, 

drain  of 255 

"No  man  careth  for  my 
soul" 214 

Opportunity,  genius  of. . .  220 
Oration  s — American; 
humble  heroes;  parental 
sacrifice;  suffering  of 
ancestors;  a  tribute  to 
the  early  dead 81-84 

Patriot,  the;  scholar,  the.  70 

Peabody,  George 57 

Phocion,   patriot   and 

martyr 170 

Pompeii 229 

Progress  and   civilization, 

law  of 166 

Progress,  mainspring  of. .  261 

Prosperity 230 

Religion,  man's  idea  of. .  121 

Religion  perfected  by  love  273 

Retribution,  harvest  of.  . .  245 

Rosetta  Stone,  the 197 

Science  and  God 204 

Seas,  secrets  of 73 

Secret  springs  of  civiliza- 
tion     283 

Self-sacrifice,  law  of....    159 

Society 58 

Society,  crying  need  of..    188 

Society,  progress  of 123 

Spencer,  Herbert 270 

Spiritual     harvests,     Mil- 
ton's  study  of 247 

Strategic  element,  the.  . .    225 


298 


Index. 


The  Christian  the  perfect 

gentleman z62 

The    heart    and    religious 

belief 147 

The  heart  in  industry ...  1 5 1 
The  heart  in  civilization.  149 
Thirteenth  century,  the. .    224 

Thought,  liberty  of 78 

Time-  element,  the; 
Robert  Peel;  honors 
are  evanescent;  man's 
social  and  industrial 
life;  realm  of  law  and 
liberty I13-119 


Time-element  in  business .    126 

Turner 182 

Tyndall 74 

Unsupported  intellect,  im- 
potency  of 140 

Wealth     and     position — 

Lord  Shaftesbury 21 

Wealth  and  poverty....  103 

Webster,   Daniel 165 

Widovkr's  mite,  the 198 

Wisdom,     culture,    char- 
acter increased  by  hope .  28  5 


299 


PRINTED  AT  THE  LAKESIDE  PRESS 

BY  R.  R.  DONNELLEY  AND  SONS  CO. 

MDCCCXCVII 


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